Battle of the Sexes
by laufeysonn
Summary: Katie Haylen was an average middle class woman. She had a career, a house, and the rest of her life ahead of her. That is, until a series of unfortunate events leads her into the world of supernatural beings. After meeting an angel named Kim who then leads her through a plot of revenge, Katie must decide if her previous life is worth keeping; or if it's time to move on.
1. Bored to Death

_A/N: This is a **CanonxOC story**, with three different OC's being the love interests of Sam, Dean, and Castiel. If you do not like the thought of that, do not continue reading._

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to its writers. A lot of this story is created by me in the universe of the Supernatural story line, but there are still points from the show that are used throughout the entire thing.

In a town where everything was in walking distance from home, it always seemed so silly that a certain college graduate spent most of her time in a garage with nothing but a toolbox and a radio for hours on end. When people would walk past the tiny ivory-colored home they could hear songs from various genres that seemed a bit contradictory to be played one after the other, as if someone would be offended by such a music taste. As her days would come to an end she would finish up her work in the garage and turn off the radio. Afterwards she would clean herself up so she could do some drafts for her career where she designed merchandise and advertisements for certain companies that pay her a good deal of money. Once her work was all complete she retired to sleep where she would read until she could no longer keep her eyes open. It was a dull routine to anyone who believed they knew her; however she found that it kept her very busy.

This lifestyle was abruptly changed all because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe if she would have just stayed in bed that morning, or maybe if she would have simply ignored the actual event, her life would have continued to be this repetitive, customary rut that she had dug herself into. Just a line of unfortunate events that led her into something she thought only happened in movies and books.

Her life-altering event began on an early morning in late spring. The sun had peered through slightly opened curtains onto Katie's eyes which forced her to pull the blankets over her head. This instinctive movement of her body was the sole reason why she had woken up in the first place. If her body was alert enough to do something, then so was her mind, and it became hard to fall back to sleep in that kind of state. After turning around a few times in the lonely bed, she removed her barely dressed self and shuffled around the room to find some clothes. She wasted no time getting ready, because she had something to do that day. It became a mission to visit the bookstore and pick out a new book, because she had finished the one she was previously reading the night before.

The brunette slipped into her Russian green shirt with an illustration of a dear with tree-like antlers printed on it before searching through her dresser for a pair of dark jean shorts that reached just above her knees. She spent the next few minutes scavenging through the house for her black Converse that always seemed to be in a new place every single time she went to look for them. Living alone in a house, even as tiny as hers, made it very easy to misplace things. This also made it even harder to find said things, because she was always a one-man search party. For a moment, she gave up looking for the shoes just so she could grab her wallet, black beanie hat, and leather vest.

Katie resumed her search again once she adjusted the collar of her leather vest and made sure her hat would not fall off. A few minutes later she found the shoes hidden under the sofa. As soon as she slipped on the footwear she was ready to visit the bookstore. She picked up her keys from a bowl just beside the door and left the house to start her stroll. To take her car would have been pointless seeing as it was only a five minute walk to get to the building. Half of that time was spent just walking up the long dirt road that separated her home from the rest on the main highway.

The sun was the brightest it had been that entire week on that day. Just before she entered the bookstore she checked her phone just to see if it would be opened at the time. It was; she had been sleeping a lot longer than she had planned to that morning. The time on the screen showed it was a little passed noon when she set foot into the vast amount of words and tiny little worlds. She decided she would get a cup of coffee to wake her senses up before coming to the very important decision of a new book to read. Her mind would not be thinking as clearly and there was no worse feeling than being disappointed by a story. With a cup of coffee in hand, she took a seat at one of the high tables and started working on finishing her drink.

While she sat there, the only thing that could occupy her mind was observing each person in the room for a second or two. Every time the bell for the door would ring, she would look out her peripherals to get a glance at the new strangers. Each face that entered showed nothing of interest to her, so she kept to herself as always. Even if she had found someone interesting she would not do anything about it. She had never been one for socializing.

It was not until a man entered, carrying an old and tattered book, that she showed any sort of interest in the people around her. The book did not bother her, although, it did make her curious as to why the man would bring a used book to a bookstore that did not resell books. The thing that did bother her was the man himself. It would be a lie to say that she was not a person who was a bit judgmental about people's appearances, because she was. She believed that the way a person presented themselves in front of others really said a lot about their character.

With that in mind, the man's appearance made him the exact opposite of any kind of threat that she was experiencing. He looked like an average Joe, a family man so to speak. She spotted a keychain with a few photographs of children hanging out of his pocket; the pictures had been yellowed over time, so she assumed they were photos of his siblings or himself when he was young. His clothing was nothing of interest. It was less likely that you would point him out on the streets for being a little out there, in his light blue polo and khaki pants. He had a strong build, or at least it looked like he did being covered in the loose clothing. The way he held himself made him appear younger than his face told, a few wrinkles peaking. All in all, if there was one thing that was scary about him it was the crudely done tattoo sleeve of black symbols that looked like gibberish to her.

If it was not the book or his appearance sending such fear down her spine, then she really did not know what was wrong with her. Maybe the coffee was not sitting well, although that was very unlikely, because she had been addicted to the warm beverage since she was a freshman in high school. Her sense of fear was the only reason her eyes followed him throughout the store. She felt that if she were to take her eyes away from the man for even one second, then he would appear beside her and attack her. While she was watching him, she noticed that he was being extra cautious around the employees of the store.

After a few moments of watching him just wander around, she started to calm herself. He did not seem to have any malicious intent, so she drank the last mouthful of coffee before throwing away the plastic cup in a garbage can nearby. The anxious graduate began her journey to find a book to read, looking for an aisle that lacked the presence of another. She felt less required to rush if she could find a shelf all to herself that appealed to her interest. The paranormal section was missing its usual large crowd of readers and gave her the opportunity to go searching through the untouched territory.

Katie pulled her hat off to run a hand through her hair just to keep it from getting flat against her head before she actually cracked down and started searching. As she found a knot in her hair, she turned her head to try and look at the chunk of tangled strands. The movement of her head led her to make direct eye contact with the strange male she had been watching earlier, sending a shiver through her entire body. The man had his hand over the binding of the tattered book which he was placing in the bookcase. A grin tugged at his lips before he walked away from the section and out of the bookshop completely.

The smug look on his face annoyed her more than it actually scared her at that point. When she was able to confirm that he was gone she walked over to where he had placed the book and pulled it from the shelf. Calloused hands flipped the book back and forth while hazel eyes searched for a title only to discover that there was none on the hard back. She was about to open the book in search for the appellation, however, someone much smaller had bumped her which ultimately forced her to lose grip on the book. It slammed face down onto the ground and made a noise that caused the entire bookstore to look in her general direction. The shorter female who bumped into her looked down at the book on the ground, ready to lean down and pick it up. However, she was not able to reach it in time, because Katie beat her to it.

The stranger apologized, fiddling with her maroon sweater sleeves before walking away. The girl left Katie with a sense of inquisitiveness, because she did not understand how someone could wear a sweater this close to summer. She shrugged off the thought, looking back down at the book in her hand and no longer caring to find a title. To bring the book to an employee seemed like the best idea, and when she did that the employee gave her a questioning gaze. A short summary of what happened and a thank you later should have brought the short interaction to an end. He repeated what she had previously done, flipping the book to look at the front and back covers in search of something that was not there.

It was Katie's inquiring mind that prevented her from walking away. She could have just left it at that and gotten as far away as possible, but no, she _needed_ to know what the title of the book was. The employee held the book steady in one of his hands to stare at the front cover. Suspense gnawed at Katie's heels, and she was getting ready to open the book herself until the employee slowly bent the binding. Both of them were surprised, however, for two different reasons. The employee was surprised to find absolutely no words in the thick, broken volume, while Katie was surprised to see black wisps emanating from the book. They merely floated over the pages, seemingly harmless. The wisps then traveled around the room, searching for something so quickly that Katie could barely keep up with them.

Black clouds eventually came back to her, stopping, and just sitting in front of her. The employee asked if she was alright, and that brought to her attention that she was the only one following the wisps around. An idea that she was the only person who could see them made her feel a bit special in a twisted kind of way. She nodded at the employee, stepping back slowly in attempt to move away from the balls of energy, because ultimately, they gave her a negative feeling. The smoke disappeared into a man standing behind the employee, leaving no trace.

Everything looked fine for a moment; it just looked like the man had swallowed something the wrong way. Then she was frozen in sudden fear when the man's eyes turned pitch black. She had never seen anything like it before, and the unfamiliarity sent awe into her.

A similar grin to the one that the man who originally brought in the book appeared on the new strangers face, and Katie could begin to connect this event to something she had read before. All she could think was, 'I'm going to die.' It was her realistic way of handling the situation, thinking of the worst possible outcome and trying her hardest to prevent it.

The way his face peered over the employee's shoulder, teasing her into thinking that maybe for a moment, she would be safe while the man got a hold of the employee. The short film of such a scenario played in her head, imagining the employee's head being ripped off and allowing her a short time to put as much distance between her and this _thing_ as possible. The thought was corrupt; something she felt was planted into her mind by an outside source, almost testing her to see if she would actually leave the innocent man to be killed.

Concern washed over the employee as he asked her again if she was alright. The possessed man took a step forward in attempt to reach out for the employee, and Katie's instincts kicked in. She touched the employee's arm and pushed him to the side, then behind her. In this swift moment, the other man saw her as a threat as if she was even capable of harming him at all with no weapons. He brought up his hand, than slapped her with his knuckles which sent her flying into a bookshelf.

Customers on the other side of the bookshelf began to panic as it started to topple over to their side. Out of panic and adrenaline, each person on the other side was able to catch the bookshelf and then push so it would fall back onto the other side. Katie, on the ground beside the bookcase that was slowly falling over onto her, was unable to move in all of the pain that she felt. Her cheek burned from the slap, her arm was already beginning to bruise from coming into contact with the bookshelf at such a high speed, and a bone in her wrist snapped when she fell down on top of it. She could barely feel her head, nearly unable to stay conscious through all of the pain.

The female that bumped into her earlier, appeared beside her, the maroon sweater being the only thing that Katie could recognize at first. Suddenly, she heard the slam of the bookshelf into the ground, a child crying, and thuds of people running. Through all of the chaos, Katie could not take her eyes off of her savior. In her delusional state, she could see a faint outline of grey angel wings, which she admired from where she was laying. "Stay still. I will be right back," the hero ordered. Katie could not nod as reassurance, but the girl knew she would listen perfectly.

A battle broke out, and although the injured female could only make out parts of it from so far away, she was amazed by the true power she could sense from both sides. Soon, she heard the high-pitched screams that were similar to that of nails on a chalkboard, and the noise forced her to close her eyes and cringe. The pounding in her head picked up, and for a short moment she could not open her eyes at all.

"Katie, stay awake," the voice of the stranger called, and she could feel someone lifting her up onto her feet and helping her get to safety. She could not lift her head, but once she was on her feet she could open her eyes and try her hardest to stay aware. The savior got someone to call for help, and within the next few minutes, Katie was in the back of an ambulance racing towards the nearest hospital.


	2. Good Vibes in Our Lives

It was a miracle that she was still alive, and that was exactly what the doctor told her the next day. There were multiple things that could have killed her; one of them was by simply moving her head the wrong way. The doctor was actually surprised that her neck was not broken by the impact after seeing all the different shades of color her bruises were. "You must have an angel watching over you," he said with a smile. Katie would have to stay in the hospital for the rest of the day as a precaution to her health, were as another person in her same condition would have to stay a few more days. She agreed to these terms, and the doctor left the room. There were a few words exchanged between the doctor and someone outside, and then slowly the door swung open.

In came the person who saved her life, and the one that she had envisioned as an angel when she was sure she was going to die. The wings, the great sense of moral and duty to save another's life without true consent; they were both qualities of a creature from heaven. The girl smiled softly, however, the smile quickly left when she stood beside the bed and took a look at the cast around Katie's wrist. "I'm sorry. I tried to prevent this from happening," she stated, which gave Katie the assumption that this girl knew what had happened was going to happen before the fact. Katie raised an eyebrow in confusion, before shaking her head slowly and carefully. "You saved my life. A broken wrist is like a paper cut compared to that," she joked, trying to get the stranger to smile again. Laughing and smiling was one of Katie's best cures to a tragedy, always being able to crack a joke to lighten a mood in a sorrowful scene.

The shorter girl smiled again, nodding slightly at the attempt to brighten the atmosphere. She stared at Katie, straight into her eyes, holding Katie's gaze longer than anyone had ever before. "What's your name?" Katie asked, finally able to turn her gaze away. She was unsure of how this girl could flatly stare at someone like that for so long and not be uncomfortable herself. "Kim," the girl spoke, eyes softening at the idea that she made Katie uneasy. Katie smiled, expecting to hear that the girl's name was Angel. The idea did not leave her head, that the shorter girl in a sweater was truly an angel from heaven. This idea would have been absurd to her a week ago, the trivial theories of the afterlife and heaven existing being something that she was not exactly a believer in.

"Kim, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Katie uttered, about to hold out her broken wrist for a handshake until she realized that the hand was going to be useless for the next few weeks. She held out her left hand and waited for the girl to shake it. Instead of taking her hand in return, Kim simply stared at the gesture. Katie wondered if she was not okay with contact; however, that would make no sense after what happened at the bookstore. "Don't leave me hanging," Katie voiced, a small chuckle passing her lips. Kim was hesitant, but she lifted her hand and placed it beside Katie's, not grasping the hand. She looked as if she was questioning each movement she made and that worried Katie a little bit. Katie grasped Kim's hand, shaking it gently, and then releasing it. "My name's Katie," she said, adjusting her torso in the hospital pillows.

"I know," Kim confessed. Katie's brain did not click until a few seconds after she spoke. '_She knew?'_ Katie could not recall ever meeting the girl before, and so she had to go back into the archives of her mind in search of an event that would match the girl's face. Maybe they went to school together, but nothing in her memory could recall ever even seeing the girl. Katie let out a nervous laugh and squinted an eye at Kim before licking her lips. "Uh, what?"

Kim nodded, completely serious about what she just said. As Katie thought about it more, she could recall Kim using her name back at the bookstore, and she never actually said it to anyone for Kim to know that. Kim then caught Katie's attention by speaking, "I'm an angel of the Lord. We have to know these kinds of things." She sounded almost proud about it. Katie furrowed her eyebrows at her in utter confusion, shaking her head slowly. She might have contemplated the thought of it being true before, but to actually hear it being confirmed just sounded insane.

"Are you joking?" Katie asked. She was almost ready to believe that Kim was just mocking her. Kim shook her head. There was dead silence in the room for a long moment; all the while, Katie held her breath, because everything felt like it was suffocating her. The whole situation was probably a dream, or maybe she was in a coma. The injured kept telling herself that, in hopes that the more she thought it the more it was true. "You aren't sleeping, so why would you be dreaming?" Kim questioned. Katie snapped her head to look over at Kim, completely shocked. Nothing had been said out loud; the girl was reading her mind now. "That's another thing we can do," Kim pointed out. Katie shook her head, "Stop."

Kim frowned, pulling up a chair next to Katie's bed and sitting with the most perfect posture Katie had ever seen. "I'm sorry if all of this is confusing. I should explain," Kim suggested. Katie held up her hand, telling Kim to be silent for a second while she tried to piece everything together. Kim held her tongue, and Katie kept her head bowed while she remembered the image of Kim she had seen when she was saved from the bookshelf. It was a hallucination, Katie knew that. The wings were too faint to actually be there. Then, there was the possibility that Kim could know her name, because she was a stalker; however, there was something that kept Katie from truly believing that. Katie knew a good heart when she saw one, and Kim was probably the kindest she had ever seen.

The brunette grew up being very open minded to the unusual, so she decided to give Kim the benefit of the doubt, lifting up her head to look at her and taking a deep breath. "Alright, go ahead." Kim put on a cheeky smile as if she had been waiting all day to tell this story. Katie paid attention as attentively as possible, making sure to keep every detail in the back of her head.

"I'm an angel of the Lord," she repeated herself from earlier, "and I have been sent down to prove myself to the Archangels. If I am able to protect a human, then I will be forgiven for what I have done in the past. When I saw the demon walking into the bookshop, I followed after him to try and figure out what he was planning. I saw that he had planted a book in the shelves, and I was going to get it, but then you took it before I could get to it. Then, I bumped into you in hope that you would drop it. You picked up the book before I could, so I left. I kept an eye on the book, and when I saw the man being possessed, I tried to stop him before he could hurt you but you decided to put yourself that much closer to harm's way in order to save someone you didn't even know. I am amazed by that, by the way. I thought after you would see what was going to happen to the man, you would have just run away, but you did not. You're very brave, Katie."

She stopped talking, indicating that her story was over. It was a short description of a big story that Katie was not ready to hear yet, but she did still have questions. She took a deep breath while organizing her thoughts. Kim awaited the questions, eagerly ready to answer. "So, to put it simply, that thing was a monster that hides under kid's beds at night?" Katie asked. Kim paused, trying to think of how to answer that question. "Well, kind of. Technically he does not hide underneath children's beds, but there are demons that do that." She took the question very literally, and Katie shook her head in disbelief.

"And you know my name because?" In the entire story, it did not really explain how Kim knew her personally. Kim's eyes lit up, "Oh, because I learned it after bumping into you." She spoke in a voice that made it seem that it was an obvious answer, when in reality, it was not. Katie shook her head, rubbing her temple with her middle finger and letting out an exhausted sigh. "So why are you still here? If you saved me, a human, and that's the whole reason you're here, then shouldn't you be back in heaven or something?" Katie asked, and this question caught Kim off guard. Kim had not really thought about that in all of the mess that happened recently.

She bowed her head, a small frown appearing on her face. "I'm—not sure." The sound of Kim's voice growing upset made Katie feel guilty, so she tried to think of something that would not upset her further. The only way she knew how to do that was to change the topic. "Are you the only angel on earth?" She asked. Kim looked up at Katie and shook her head, seemingly forgetting all about the Archangels. "There are others, although, I do not know where all of them are. There is one who I admire very much, and he's in this town," she explained. Katie released a sigh of relief to know that Kim was no longer thinking about what she had asked earlier.

Kim stared at Katie again, waiting for her to say something more. Katie looked up to see the eyes of a lost angel staring right into her, although this time, she was not uncomfortable, she did not even try to look away. Katie nodded at Kim, saying a simple phrase that caused the biggest smile to form on Kim's face. "I believe you."

It was a wonder how something as modest as saying that she believed the angel would cause such a strong happiness, but the thought did not dwell in Katie's mind. "So why are you still here? With me, I mean. I would imagine that you would go find that angel guy that's around here," Katie asked. Kim smiled, placing her hands in her lap. "I just wanted to help you make sense of everything that happened," She spoke. Katie laughed; feeling like none of this was making any sense at all, although, she decided to accept it as the truth.

"So, does that mean you'll be leaving then?" Katie asked. Kim nodded, seemingly not affected by the thought in a positive or negative way. Katie felt a bit sad to know that the angel would be leaving her; be that as it may, she tried not to show it or think about it. The attempts were futile because Kim could see right through her.

"Is it sorrowful to see me leave?" She asked, tilting her head to the side in curiosity. Katie paused, shrugging her shoulders as if to brush off the comment with a reclusive response. "Well you did save my butt back there, and you have been very helpful in keeping my head about all of this." Kim was confused by these comments, believing that she had saved all of Katie other than just her behind. Katie dismissed the confused expression, leaning her head back and about to say something else. However there was a knocking on the door and a nurse walked in to bring her food. Kim stood up, nodding to Katie as a goodbye while Katie waved at her with her casted hand. Katie took that as a sign that what she was going to say was never meant to be said, and so she shoved the thought away.

The both of them believed it was the end of whatever brief friendship they had going, therefore the thoughts of the other passed like any other thing on a normal day. Kim returned to the male angel she had mentioned in the hospital room who was accompanying two brothers. She would continue to assist the three on their adventures to rid the world of the evils that lie in shadows. Katie had stayed in the hospital until she was released around nine at night.

Katie's stomach growled, so instead of heading straight home like she should have, she decided she would stop at one of the diner's on the way home to grab something to eat. It took her longer than normal since she was not accustomed to using only one hand, especially her less dominant one. When she finished, the sun had completely set, and she walked as quickly as possible to return home. After the incident, her entire outlook on the rest of the world was forever tainted. To know that there were things creeping in the dark. It did not matter if they were watching her or something else, the fact still bothered her. She was on edge the entire walk home.

As she approached her street, her house being the only one down a dirt path that comes off of the main road, while the rest of the houses stayed connected to the street. She moved her fingers from the hand that was in the cast to try and wake them up, because the tingling feeling was beginning to bother her. Just as she looked down at her cast to try and pinch her fingers, she heard someone behind her.

No one ever went down the dirt path except her which made her all the more nervous in her situation. Taking a deep breath, she turned around and saw nothing following her. She believed it was her paranoia, and so she just let out a relieved sigh and began to walk again. Just as she took a step forward, someone grabbed her from behind, covering her mouth and constricting her body. She heard someone hushing her, and then, she slowly fell to sleep without the use of any chemical or pressure point. As the hand was removed from her mouth, she was able to get one word out. A name, a plea, something she was not even sure would work, but it was worth a shot in her desperate time: "Kim."


	3. A Desperate Fear

The door creaked open slowly, along with the floorboards and just about everything else in the old motel room. Quiet footsteps lead into the room after the door was shut. There was no one else in sight, and that was no surprise. Her companion and his friends most likely had gone out to work on their case. Without bickering brothers the room was lacking the much needed background noise.

She was tempted to turn on the television, but she could not find the remote control by just scanning the room. Searching for it seemed like a waste of energy when she could just read one of the magazine's Cas got her, at least those were within her sights, peeking out from underneath the boys research.

As she made her way across the room, Kim extended her hand out to brush aside the articles of newspaper. She paused to look down at her hand, momentarily remembering the shining light that had emitted from it back at the bookstore. It was uncontrolled, dangerous. The angel still needed practice. Without Cas though, she was probably more likely to worsen her abilities than progress. The thought of her companion made her wonder where he was at, and what he was doing. It was innocent curiosity, and a bit of worry once she realized how dark it had been outside.

Kim turned her head to look at the clock, counting fives on her fingers because she was still learning how to tell time on an analog clock. "Eleven fifteen." She muttered to herself, pursing her lips in hopes that her friend was not in danger. The articles under her hand caught her attention when she realized that if she actually looked over the articles, she could tell if whatever they were hunting was a major threat to them or not.

A sudden interruption kept her from reading the articles, the sound of her name being called out. Her fingers twitched, and she looked up and out of the window in search for where the voice had come from.

There was no one outside, at least none that she could see. The only voice she could ever hear in her head before was Cas', and the voice she had heard was much different from his modulated vocals. It was female, which was eminent. She tried to replay the voice in her head, but no matter how hard she tried she could not hear it a second time, as if it was not her mind that had made up the voice.

Whatever it was, it had left as quickly as it came. She stopped worrying about it for a short moment until she looked back down at the articles and noticed a picture of the man who had caused all the trouble at the bookstore, the one with the poorly done tattoo. With that sudden connection, the short mystery of the voice she heard became clear. The girl she saved was calling out to her, Katie was in trouble. Kim's swift movements almost knocked over the table and chair as she bound for the door.

Her hands jiggled the doorknob furiously; she finally got it to open after she remembered that she had to turn it to get it to open. In her haste, forgetting to do simple tasks was easy. She opened the door so quickly that it almost slammed against the wall when she swung it back. She caught it and pulled it behind her to shut the door with a loud slam. As she stepped forward, she slammed into a taller body, one covered in a tan overcoat. Both of them moved in opposite directions, but the man in the overcoat caught his balance and was just able to catch hers as well.

"Kim, what's wrong?" The husky voice asked, leaning down slightly to try and get to her level. Kim was hyperventilating, or beginning to. She was holding onto Cas' arms as support to keep her own body up. Her head was spinning; she could feel her blood pumping. It was adrenaline, and that was her first time ever feeling such a sensation. The brothers standing behind Cas both gave each other looks of concern, in their own ways.

"Did you find the demon? Is it dead?" Kim spoke hastily, completely ignoring the question that was given to her. Cas shook his head, and then the shorter but older brother, Dean, spoke, "We looked all over town. Wherever he is, he's hiding pretty well." Kim turned to Cas, almost instinctively in her stressful moment, pleading for help with her gaze. The matured angel pursed his lips and was beginning to put together what was going on, however most of his theory was assumptions. He removed his hands from Kim's arms, allowing them to fall to his sides as he spoke, "I need you to focus on your stress, almost control it. Do not ask why, just do it."

The taller, younger brother, Sam, tapped his older brothers' shoulder and told him that he thinks that the two should go get into the car. Dean gave him a questioning look, and was about to argue as to why he would do that, but Sam was already on his way. A confused Dean followed right behind.

Cas and Kim watched the brothers enter the car until their attentions was brought back to each other. Kim was scared, she felt like they were losing time the longer they stood there. Dark irises stared into the stern light blue optics of the other, and suddenly what she was doing became clear. Cas knew best, and that was what she always believed. She forgot that simple theory in her fit of concern.

She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and focused on the thought of Katie. There was silence between the two angels because no words needed to be shared. Cas was linking his thoughts with hers, and as long as he had no distractions this task was not difficult. He saw what she saw, and what she was seeing was a fenced line of storage buildings. Cas' voice broke her concentration, pulling her out of the vision, "I know where that is. We passed it earlier."

Cas took Kim's arm and pulled her over to the 1967, Chevy impala, and she went without hesitation. Cas opened the door for her and let her inside, sitting down once she had scooted far enough over for him. As soon as the door shut, Dean put his foot on the gas pedal and the car was out of the parking lot within seconds. Cas told Dean about the storage buildings, and Dean knew just where to go. He sped well over the speed limit, the car jerking at any sudden turn.

A prominent pounding beat against Kim's head, as if she had been struck with something hard. A muffled scream filled her ears that made her cringe. It was not the loudness of the noise, but the clarity of it, almost like she was standing right next to the source of the sound. Cas touched Kim's shoulder, he had ceased the sound and the pounding with a simple gesture.

The Chevy came to a forced halt, all of the bodies in the car leaning forward and bouncing back due to the force. Dean was the first out of the car due to the sheer fact that he was the one who initiated the stop, Kim came out right after, and then Sam and Cas were close behind her after Sam pulled two shot guns and canteens from the trunk of the car.

Dean's hands grasped the gate, shaking it back and forth before he realized that the gate was, in fact, locked. He cursed under his breath and began to climb the fence, previously wishing that for once the gate would have just opened. Once Dean was over the fence, Sam called for him and tossed the shot guns and canteens over the gate. As soon as Dean caught them, Sam was on the gate and climbed quickly.

Kim was hopping in place, waiting for Sam to offer a hand to her to help her get over the fence, but instead Cas took her hand and in that same instant they were through the fence and inside the property. Cas immediately released to follow after Dean who had already began to throw up the doors of the storage cells.

There were a little over a dozen small buildings in the lot, and the more doors that were opened it seemed the louder they became. Kim stood where she was, trying to focus again. She was not sure she was capable of locating Katie in this manner, but she had to try. She did not like the thought of the demon hearing the chaos outside and leaving before they could find it, or what it could do to her friend. The small angel took a deep breath and scanned the area, and after one sweep she felt like she knew just which one her target was in. Sam ran right passed her to help Dean open up the blocks as quickly as possible.

It was faith, absolutely pure faith that she was relying on. That was all she needed at that point, a hope that she was right. She ran to the block just before the last, struggling to get the door open herself. Dean rushed over and pulled up the door with her, and as the door zoomed up it almost carried the smaller body with it. She released it quickly enough to land on the ground safely. The loud clicking of the door and dim light from the moon inside the dark storage cell caught the demon's attention, and then the sight of a shot gun pointed at him forced him to stop his _fun_ and vanish just as the first fire was sounded.

Kim looked around the small building, hoping to find the creature herself so she could be the one to rid of it, but even after she turned around to look at the lot it did not seem to be anywhere nearby. Sam and Cas came running over, and Dean entered the building as soon as he was sure the demon had vanished.

Muffled groans came from inside the barely lit building, and those muffled groans turned into a loud gasp of much needed air. Kim ran inside, noticing that the whole thing was completely empty aside from the frightened and tied up girl. She searched for a light, and once she found one she turned it on without warning. This caused both Katie and Dean to shut their eyes and cringe while they adjusted to the white light.

Shining the light in the building did not make the scene look any better. It only revealed how desperate Katie looked. Dean was untying all of the knots around her limbs and torso and telling her that it was alright, that they were going to get her out of this. It almost sounded like a lie, as if she was not truly ever going to get out of the situation after the day that she had. Kim noticed a hole in the shorts of the battered girl, but it was not torn. The fabric around the hole was dark, burned, and as she stepped closer she could see the red hot skin still sizzling.

The sight sent a chill down her spine, one that forced her to kneel down next to the injury. It looked so painful, and it seemed like the air around it only worsened such a torturous wound. Kim tried to focus like Cas taught her, tried to speed up the healing process to the point where the wound would no longer exist. As the angel went to touch the wound, the burning hot temperature forced her to pull back immediately along with the hissing of the poor victim. Not even the slightest sign of it beginning to heal. After Katie grunted at the pain, Dean noticed it and muttered a quiet, "Oh, God," before he helped Katie to her feet. Kim tried to help alongside him, but Katie could not walk at all. The slightest tightening of her skin or muscles made the pain unbearable.

Dean looked up at Sam, who nodded and then ran ahead to try and open the gate for everyone. The hunter then ordered his angel to pick up his shot gun and take it back to the car, and Cas did just as he was told. "Help me get her up." He asked Kim, who nodded immediately and assisted him in getting Katie off of her feet and into Dean's arms. Dean asked Katie to put an arm around his neck to help support herself, and she did just as she was told.

Wired fence clanging noises were heard outside, and that meant that Sam had gotten the gate open. Cas gestured with a wave of his hand that the gate was open and that it was safe to go. Dean walked with a more noticeable bow-legged strut because of the extra weight he was carrying. The feeling of the air pressing against Katie's wound was enough to make her have to fight back tears. Kim walked right beside Dean, she wanted to comfort her friend but she did not have the slightest clue on how to do so.

Everyone made it into the car without any interruption, and that was disturbing to the two brothers. Not once have they ever run into a demon that just simply let them free. The look of concern that they shared with each other in the front of the car showed their anxiety. Kim sat in the middle of her angel companion and the wounded, apologizing under her breath for touching the wound earlier. Katie did not hear the apology, but even so she had rested her head against the angel's shoulder as both a sign of how grateful she was and her relief.

Katie was rushed to the hospital, and Kim followed her as far as she was allowed. The glass that separated the two let Kim still watch over her; however she felt that she needed to be by her side rather than just watching her. She looked down at her hand that lay at her side, the useless integers tapping against her thigh. If only she knew more. Maybe if she had spent more time practicing rather than lazing about then the human in the other room would not have had to make her second visit to the healing vicinity.

The doctor and nurses all removed themselves from the room, the physically fit, elderly doctor giving a curt nod as a sign that the patient would be alright and that the group was allowed in the room. Kim debated with herself on whether she wanted to go inside the room or not, solidly standing in her place without the slightest bit of movement. For a moment she was ready to walk inside, but just as she took her first step the younger brother who was sitting in a plastic chair across the hall spoke, "So Kim, how'd you know this would happen?"

Kim turned to face Sam, an elongated gesture that hinted towards a sense of hesitation from the angel. She opened her mouth to speak, however her mentor and closest thing she had to a friend stepped forward, away from Sam, and touched Kim's shoulder to stop her. Cas turned to Sam, "I need to speak with her for a moment." With that, Cas pulled Kim gently down the hallway until they were far enough away from the room. Sam stayed where he sat, confused as to why the two were being secretive.

"What happened in the motel before we arrived?" Cas immediately asked, not spending anytime trying to ease his apprentice's worries. His methods were effective, always finding the root of the problem before even attempting to fix them. Kim paused for a moment, a little taken by surprise at how forward the question was. She took a deep breath and lowered her gaze, "I was going to look at the Winchester's research, but then I heard someone say my name. I was confused because there was no one around." The smaller angel would have gone on to explain more, but Cas brought his hand up to touch her arm. "Now I am sure I know what has happened."

People walking passed them were obviously very confused when Cas explained the next part to his close friend. "A connection has been made between you and the girl, one similar to Dean and my own." This time Cas was not as forward because he knew how it would affect his companion. She took it negatively, almost started to believe that it was completely her fault that the previously normal college graduate has been going through all of this pain. Her head lifted up to look at her teacher, although she was not hoping for a lesson or advice. All she wanted to hear was reassurance that her friend would be alright, that she was not to blame for this. That is exactly what she was told right after that.

Cas spoke in a sympathetic tone, hushing her concerns by talking her back down until she was calm again. Once he was sure she was not going to breakdown, he went on explaining what was going to happen. "Katie will continue to be targeted, and you have to protect her. I do not doubt that you are very capable of doing this, for you would have had to do it once for something like this to happen. However, to successfully keep her from harm you must tell her the kind of trouble she is in, and ask her if she is willing to accept that. It will be hard; she will most likely not take it well. But you must inform her."

Everything that her mentor had said sunk in slowly, this was not normal for the quick-learning angel. Normally she could hear an explanation once without any questions and easily do as she was told, however this time there was a sense of defiance in doing what Cas was saying. Dark optics removed themselves from the floor, and looked straight up into the other angel's eyes. "I don't want this for her." She simply put, initially wanting to keep it at just that before she continued talking, "There has to be a way we can undo this, right?"

The taller man in the overcoat raised an eyebrow at Kim, questioning her defiance. She had always listened, and seeing this new attitude come from her was both troublesome and exciting. Cas wanted what was best for her, and he of all angel's should know that the ideals of their species are not always what is best. If she would not be defiant against the Archangels, then he would allow her to be defiant against him. At least then she would not be bottling up that rebellion and unleashing it at an inappropriate time. What was troublesome about this was how he had no other solution to the problem, "We can't change fate, Kim. You know that."

"Then can't we break the bond?" Kim inquired.

"That would result in an even worse outcome if it was even possible."

This caused Kim to bite her tongue. There was no going back from here, and in the back of her head she knew that. The confidence she had felt a few moments ago was gone, and she reverted back to staring at the ground in submissive defeat. Cas reached an arm forward, gently placing it on Kim's shoulder and giving a reassuring squeeze. He said a simple statement without a real explanation, but Kim did not question it, "You saved her life today, twice. I think this is going to be a fine connection."

After his statement, Cas pulled away from Kim and lead her towards the hospital room again. Dean was walking towards Sam, two cups of a warm beverage in his hands. He handed one of them to his younger brother, taking a long drink from his own and releasing a content sigh. Kim noticed the two beverages and was reminded of the book store where Katie had a cup similar to the ones that Dean and Sam were holding. She asked where Dean had gotten the drinks, and Dean did not give her an answer, just stared at her with a puzzled expression.

"Katie had that drink earlier, and it gave her a positive feeling." Kim explained, and Dean lost his puzzled look as he nodded and pointed behind him with his thumb. "There's a lobby on the ground floor where they have a coffee maker." He briefly stated with no intention of assisting the angel in the small journey. Sam looked up at Dean, his eyebrows scrunched together to question why Dean was not going to help her get it. The younger brother sighed and stood up from his seat to lead Kim downstairs.

As the two were in the elevator, Sam brought up his question from earlier in hopes that this time there would be no interruptions. Kim paused again; she had to rethink her previous answer. She used Dean and Cas as an example that Sam could relate to just so that she could shorten her explanation. Sam understood the comparison, however his lips did not calmly loosen and his eyebrows were still scrunched nervously. His large hands began to tap at the outside of his thigh, anxiously waiting for the elevator to stop. Kim believed it was just a small anxiety over elevators that some people had, and so she did not ask about it.

Sam led the way to the coffee maker, picking the pot up from its machine and realizing that there was only a swallow or two left. He had hoped that he would not have to go through the process of actually preparing the coffee, but then it seemed inevitable. As he prepared the coffee he explained each step carefully to the curious angel while she watched attentively. The machine took a few minutes to process the beverage, so the both of them waited patiently.

The tapping of four digits broke Kim's concentration on the machine, eyeing the others hand as he bumped away on the counter. She glanced up at Sam's face, unable to keep herself from questioning his nervousness any longer. When she had asked him if he was okay, Sam tried to play it off as if he was just fidgety from the caffeine; however that just made Kim curious as to why the beverage would make him anxious.

"Okay," He began to confess, "There is something bothering me." Sam bowed his head, listening to the gurgle of the brewing beverage as he spoke. "I had a vision, again. This time it was her." He pursed his lips, having previously believed that his visions had stopped. Kim leaned her head to the side to show that she was all the more interested in what he had to say. "But that's not what is bothering me now." He went on, "I had another vision last night, and it was of someone who looked like someone who could be related to Katie. And she…" He stopped, the ding of the coffee maker notifying them that it was done forcing him to stop his story.

Kim put the idea of getting Katie her coffee aside for a moment to focus on Sam's new vision. Sam poured some of the pot into one of the cups and set it down in front of Kim, pointing at the sugar and creamer while explaining that some people like additives in their coffee while others do not. The angel was not listening. Once Sam had finished speaking, Kim immediately began, "You, Dean, and Cas need to go find where the girl from your vision is and make sure she's alright." The stern tone in Kim's voice made Sam uneasy, and therefore he did not question her and ran back upstairs to get Dean and Cas.

Steam from the coffee rose from the cup in fewer amounts as it was cooling down. Kim stared at the counter and finally remembered that she was getting Katie coffee, staring at the sugar and creamer that Sam had pulled away from the rest of the items. She did not take into account how much she was putting into the beverage of both the cream and sugar, pouring it carelessly.

While Kim was making her way back upstairs to the room she was contemplating on how to tell Katie about her situation. She believed that if she was able to convince the other that once this demon was sent back to hell she could return to a normal life and Kim would no longer have to worry. That seemed like the most logical explanation, so she went with it, slowly opening the door to the hospital room and peaking in to see Katie watching a late night talk show host.

Katie sat up in the bed, carefully moving her body and leaning over to the end table to grab the remote to the television and turn it off. Kim smiles at her, glad to see she did not seem too emotionally affected by previous events. The angel pulled up a seat next to the bed, holding out the coffee for Katie to take. The joy on the wounded face shined at the sight of her favorite beverage as she took the cup and fiddled with the lid. A happy thank you was issued to the angel, along with a brief remark about how grateful she was that she had gone to the trouble to get her a coffee without her having to ask.

Her first sip of the drink made her nose wrinkle at the overpowering sweetness, swallowing the beverage reluctantly while trying to force a smile to show the angel that she had liked it. Kim noticed the sour expression, frowning when she realized that getting her the drink caused her the exact opposite reaction from earlier. "You don't like it."

The brunette set down the coffee cup and put up her hands defensively before she shook her head. She tried to convince her savior that she did enjoy the coffee, however there attempts were futile; the two did not spend much time talking about the matter.

There was a short silence between the two. The clicking of the second hand on the analog clock annoyed Katie, so she thought up a question to ask her companion however she was unable to get the question in before the angel began to speak. "What exactly happened to you?" Kim was just curious, and was not aware the kind of effect the question would have on the girl in the bed. Katie adjusted her position against the pillows in hopes that it would give her a moment to think about how to answer the question; obviously there was no way to get around it or change the subject without the angel getting suspicious. The patient released a small sigh and began to describe the event with the best of her abilities.

"I was walking home," She hesitantly started, "And suddenly I was grabbed and knocked out. Then I woke up in the storage block and it was dark, so I really could not see anything, which was probably better." She stopped to imagine the idea of being able to see what was happening to her, and that made her shiver. "I tried to stand up but I was so tied up that I barely even budged from that spot. And then that stupid, snarky son of a-…" She bit her tongue just before the derogatory term was able to pass her lips, a deep breath was inhaled and then slowly exhaled to try and calm herself down. "That thing started talking to me. He said how it was a shame that I was left alone, and some other stuff I don't want to repeat." Her head cringed into her shoulders as she remembered the demon's suggestive whispers.

"And of course, I was not just going to take the comments without some kind of retort, so I guess I called him something that made him mad and he put that stupid cloth in my mouth to muffle my scream. His hand lit on fire, and then he placed it against my thigh and it was probably the worst pain I've ever felt." She explained loosely, it _was_ the worst pain she had ever felt before. Katie knew that telling her concerned companion something like that so forwardly would have been a disaster, therefore she added the doubtful 'probably' into the statement.

As Kim was listening, the frown that tugged down the corners of her lips got heavier and heavier. Her hands balled up into tiny fists, tightening the more she thought about the situation. By the time Katie was finished with her narrative, Kim's knuckles had turned white. Katie noticed both of these features and tried to change the subject, "Who was the guy that carried me out?"

The angel's response was quick and immediate, her voice cutting through the air and tying Katie's throat in a small knot to discontinue any further questions, "That's not important." No more words were shared between the two for a solid five minutes. Neither of them wanted to say anything else; however there were a million words they could have said. Instead, Katie turned to sit upright on the bed. Kim watched while she attempted to stand, only to sit back down because putting the weight on her recovering leg was too much for her to handle. The patient quietly hissed through her teeth.

To cover up the pained drone, Katie let out a chuckle that echoed in the quiet of the white room. Kim raised an eyebrow at the sense of amusement that had suddenly appeared after the moment of searing pain. She did not have to ask about it however, because Katie ceased her curiosities when she spoke. "To think that before all of this my worst injuries were paper cuts and small scrapes." It was genuinely hilarious to her, how bland her life was starting to look the more she thought about it.

No laughter or any sign of entertainment came from the angel despite Katie's attempt at a joke. It was growing increasingly tense in the room again, but this time the quiet did not last for long. Kim was the one to break the pause, "I could…" She hesitated, having caught Katie's attention and realizing it was too late to take back her words, "I could try and speed up the healing process of your burn; however I am afraid it might hurt more than the infliction of the wound." The look in her eyes did not show the concern that her voice had given off. It was as if Katie was looking at an anxious scientist who was ready to try an experiment that they had been waiting to do for so long. Katie could not bring herself to deny such an inquisitive little scientist its chance to find success. The injured tried her best to shove any doubts out of the angels head, "Anything to get this heal quickly."

Kim scooted her chair closer to the bed, after she was close enough she put a tear in the bandage and began to unravel it. The process of healing the wound would go terribly wrong if the bandage were still around it, for the skin cells would most likely attach themselves to the fabric. Peeling the gauze away from the wound looked disgusting to the human, while the angel seemed unfazed. With the fabric piled on the bed next to Katie and the wound completely exposed to the air around it, the patient was feeling a bit squeamish. Not once had Katie ever seen such a terrible looking burn that was physically in front of her, anything as gory as that had only ever been on a screen or in a magazine.

Once Katie and Kim both took a deep breath, Kim hesitantly put her index and middle finger just below the wound. The healer closed her eyes, obviously focusing all of her energy into the two digits. Katie carefully watched the face of the angel until she felt the stretching of her own muscles and skin underneath the other's fingertips. Her head bowed and she bit her tongue to keep from screaming at the rapid formation of skin cells. A minute passed of this unbearable pain, and then Kim removed her fingers from their spot on the girls' knee. "Done." She spoke almost proudly. Katie breathed rapidly because she had been holding her breath for that whole minute. The scar looked perfect, absolutely no flaw other than the discoloration from the rest of Katie's skin. Kim was right to be proud, however at the time Katie was not too willing to commend her for her job well done. For that moment she was more likely to mutter angry choice words than proper praise.

Guitar strums rung through the room, causing both of the glasses-wearing females to look up and turn their heads towards a pile of clothes on a chair across the room. It was a distinctive guitar solo that anyone who knew anything about rock music of the 1970's could pick out within the first few cords. "That's my phone." Katie clarified as she brought herself up to her feet again, this time able to keep herself up with ease. All of the pain she felt just a few moments before was gone. She was about to walk over to her clothes to retrieve her phone, however Kim had beaten her to it. The angel handed over the device.

Katie's small smile at the lack of pain and polite gesture was almost immediately wiped away when she looked at the caller ID on the screen. It was a name, the name of a woman from what Kim could tell about names. "What could she possibly want?" Katie hissed. The annoyance in the girl's voice was so venomous that Kim had to lean back ever so slightly in fear that she would accidently offend Katie.

"What?" The brunette angrily spoke into the phone. Her head was slightly tilted forward and her eyes shifted slightly back and forth almost as if she were reading the words that she was listening to. Suddenly, her head shot up and she stared in horror at the wall in front of her. The iris' of her eyes were shaking, and the tight grip she had around her phone just a moment ago had loosened. Her once proud and calm stance tensed and became very fidgety. "What is it?" Kim whispered, unable to wait until Katie was going to hang up the phone. The urgency of her emotional state made Kim very worried; fore it was the first time the angel had seen Katie's entire being shatter.


	4. Hang on to Yourself

"Your sister is dead. Sarah is dead." If her mother would have never repeated the statement for clarification, Katie would have thought that she had misheard. Her younger sister, the one she would have given up her life for, was _dead_. What would have taken anyone else at least a few minutes to process took her mere seconds. She was fully dressed in her singed shorts and wrinkled shirt; out of the room just a few minutes after she had hung up the phone.

Kim followed behind Katie all of the way out of the hospital. Determination ruled over concern in that moment for the human, she did not care what kind of consequences lied ahead for her. To leave a hospital without permission sounded like it would be troublesome and illegal. None of that mattered to her; all she cared about during that time was confirming that the only blood related family member she ever cared for was no longer breathing.

Katie barely said anything on the taxi ride to the hospital two towns away. The angel was the exact opposite; she asked all of the questions she could possibly ask about the situation at hand. After being bombarded with questions half way through the ride, Katie spoke. It was the only time she said anything during the trip, "I will answer all of your questions later. Please be patient." In a way, Katie was saying that to prolong her denial; she believed that if she did not have to explain it then it never happened.

The driver of the taxi pulled up to the curb of the hospital, and Katie immediately handed the man her payment. Kim was finding it hard to keep up with her companion. Katie moved so quickly despite just being healed by an amateur angel who was not even confident that her abilities fully healed the wound. If the wound had reopened Katie would not feel it, although it was unlikely that it would have.

Many nurses approached the two on their journey up to their destination. With each one that they got passed, the less they had to explain. By the time they were on the right floor, all Katie had to say was, "My sister is here," and the nurse let her pass. From the whole way down the hallway, the two could see a weeping woman in her early sixties sat in the chair across the room where Katie's sister was being held. The woman was Katie's mother, also probably the angriest person she had the displeasure of knowing. Her unhealthily large weight, artificially colored hair, and make-up that had absolutely no assistance to the mess of a face that she had was something Katie hoped she would never have to see again.

As the human and angel approached the room, the weeping mother brought up her head to see the daughter that she would much rather not call her own in that very moment alongside a person she had never met before. "Who is she?" It was probably the most inappropriate time to ask such a question, like it mattered either way if her mother ever found out who the angel was. Katie did not answer the question, nor did she plan to ever answer it. She was staring through the large glass window at a sight she never believed she would have to see, especially in such a horrifying state.

A bullet hole in the center of the forehead, that's how she died. The younger sister who was supposed to die long after her, the younger sister she took care of up until the moment she had to leave for college. The shock forced Katie to take a seat in the chair just a few away from her annoyed mother's. She shook her head slowly, the denial completely sinking in. Kim took a spot next to Katie, on the opposite side of the mother. "I'm so sorry." She whispered, placing a hand carefully on Katie's shoulder.

The contact lead Katie to look up at Kim, revealing the hazel colored eyes that were beginning to drown in a layer of tears. Not a single tear fell down her cheek, and the angel imagined that being more painful than letting the tears fall. Katie was attempting to be strong, as strong as anyone could possibly be after losing their only family they were ever proud of.

Presence of Kim's mentor was the sole reason the angel left Katie's side. It was for a short time, merely to just find out if the three men had figured out anything about what had happened. While Katie was sat alone, her mother took the chance to swoop in and slowly tear away every shred of dignity she had left. The first thing her mother did was shove a crumpled up piece of paper into her lap. Katie did not look up at her mother for even a second; she did not even question what the piece of paper was. She knew what lied within the words on the destroyed notebook sheet.

It was exactly what she thought it was. A note, it was what people left behind when they initiated their departure from life. None of what she was reading was processing, mostly because all of it was enraged scribbles about how the life that her sister lead lacked purpose. As Katie read down the paper, near the bottom of the page the sentences turned more and more into scribbles rather than words, and the more hateful they became towards her directly. "I hope you're happy with yourself," Her mother's grievous vocals scratched at her ears.

Katie looked directly at her mother for the first time since she had left for college so long ago, and it was with the most venomous glare she could ever give to someone. The piece of paper crumpled up in her hands and returned to the small ball that it had been before she had unraveled it. She was reminded of the very last things she ever said to her sister, the way she acted when she had left, and how she would give up anything to take all of that back. It was obvious that she was blaming herself entirely for her sisters' death, it had been written out for her in ink.

For a moment, the tears nearly rolled out of Katie's eyes and down her cheeks, but she was able to bring both of her hands up and wipe her eyes before they were able to do so. Just as she was wiping the tears away, her mother removed herself from her chair and began to scream, all of the rage being unleashed in the public hallway.

"You are so selfish!" Her mother cried, "You had to go and say such awful things to her before you left, didn't you? She had so much potential to get far in life, much farther than you will ever go, and now all of that is gone because you could not even call and apologize. You are such a selfish brat."

Listening to her mother blame her for anything bad that happened was not something new to her. Katie was used to it, after eighteen years of receiving blame it became something that she would take just as long as it would not be directed towards her sister. But her sister was gone, so why would she just sit there and take it anymore? Because she lacked the confidence she had only a few moments before. Katie sat in silence.

Security for the hospital came and asked for Katie's mother to leave, and when she had refused they forcefully escorted her out. Everyone in the hallway was grateful, even the people who were unaware of the situation. The tension that had risen from the screaming had sucked the air out of the hallway; suffocating most of the people nearby, including Sam and Dean.

The angel returned to Katie and stood diagonally from her, hesitating to say anything after witnessing such a terrible verbal beat down from a person who was supposed to be a role model in life. One of the nurses approached the two again, and then informed them that they must leave as well due to some of the patients complaining about the noises so early in the morning. Katie did not fuss because she wanted to get as far away from the hospital as possible. She did not want to see her sister like that any longer.

Both of them walked out of the hospital with the three men behind them by a few steps. Katie did not think to take the time and thank her rescuers when it was a perfectly good chance to do so. The two small groups parted ways once they were out of the building, and Kim called a taxi using the technique she had picked up from Katie just a few moments before.

Their destination was Katie's home, where Kim would stay as well. Kim had initiated the decision by asking if she could stay as close to the broken human as possible to make sure she would be alright. There was no refusal or agreement to the suggestion; therefore Kim believed it would be alright for her to stay. By the time they had arrived at the small home it had been twenty four hours since Katie had left to go to the bookstore. It was unbelievable how quickly her life had been turned upside down, and such a drastic change was exhausting. The first thing that Katie did when she arrived at the home was lie down on the sofa and fall into a deep sleep.

While Katie slept, Kim was sitting in the armchair across from the sofa. She watched the clock as each prolonged minute passed until the clock read six in the evening. Occasionally she moved her gaze around the room to admire the simplicity it. There were no extra miscellaneous items that would distract any visitor's eyes from the structure of the room. Various shades of grey painted the furniture and walls, a color that usually represented gloom and was a bore to the usual eye. Kim did not see it that way; she saw the limited pallet as a sign of security, intelligence, and modesty. This was mostly due to the fact that as she was growing in heaven, Cas told her that the color grey was one of the most admirable colors, even against the purest of whites. As she looked back on the memory, she began to realize that the reason he always reminded her of that was because her own wings were the same light grey she was admiring on the walls in the room.

Eight hours of resting was all Katie could get because she was abruptly awoken by a nightmare she could not remember having. Her breath was quickened, and beads of sweat ran down her forehead to indicate that the dream was horrifying. Kim stood up, moving without thinking. She immediately took a seat next to Katie and placed her index and middle finger against the middle of her forehead. The look on her face was blank, showing absolutely no emotion at all as she ceased the sense of fear from Katie's mind temporarily.

Quick breathes turned into one long exhale and then a gasp when the angel removed her hand from contact. Katie reached her hand up to her forehead, questioning how it was even possible to remove an entire emotion, especially one as strong as fear. "I will not do that again. Fear is a key emotion in humans, however for right now I need you to be as focused as possible on what I'm about to tell you."

Katie almost wished that Kim did not speak so formally, but she knew it was something that Kim would have to grow out of eventually. The angel's stomach released a prominent roar that could not be overlooked. Kim stared at her midsection questioningly; it was obvious that she had never felt that kind of hunger before. The human stood up and walked into the kitchen to grab two peanut butter and grape jelly sandwiches. She gave one to Kim when she returned to the living room.

During the time the two were eating, Katie took much longer to chew her food. She was distracted by her thoughts, most of them wondering how such an untimely end could come to her younger sibling. Suicide was something she never imagined her sister doing, she was stronger than that. There were times where Katie grew worried that her emotional state was in dire need of surveillance, however it was never to the extent of suicide. None of it made sense, especially knowing that her sister was the kind of person who always felt the need to prove herself to the ones she admired. Taking her own life would be giving up, and that was one thing she would not do.

Half of the angel's sandwich was left sitting on the paper plate by the time she was ready to confront Katie about the issue that she had been keeping quiet about. Whilst Kim began to speak, the brunette continued eating quietly. "Your sister was killed, and she did not initiate it herself." Kim said flatly. The smaller girl was unaware of the kinds of effects that being so straightforward had on certain people. A choked cough came from Katie after she had tried to swallow while inhaling sharply. Once she was able to wash down the feeling in her throat with a bottle of water, she questioned why Kim would make that kind of assumption.

"It is not an assumption. It is the truth. I can prove it." Kim then went on to explain how the three men that had helped save Katie in the storage cells had arrived at the scene thanks to some ability that Sam had. This obviously sprouted many questions that Katie would hold onto until Kim was done explaining. "They found sulfur on your sister's window, and sulfur is a sign that demons have been in the area." Eyebrows scrunched at the reason why sulfur and demons would be at all related to one another, however no inquiries were verbalized.

The sulfur was the only evidence Kim had towards her story, and she was very adamant about it being the only thing she needed to prove her case. She even went to the extent of using a few examples of previous instances where sulfur was the only clue towards a demon. It was not that Katie did not believe that this was the handiwork of the demon, because after the events of the day before it seemed to be the only thing that made the least bit of sense. However, she did question why her sister was the one to be attacked.

A wrinkled sandwich wrapper was tossed in the general direction of the garbage can, making it into the bin with ease. There was a moment of quiet between the two, just to allow Katie to think things over for a short period of time. As the dead air consumed the room slowly, the brunette was left to her thoughts. To keep from digging too far into her mind, Katie stood from the sofa and into the kitchen.

Only a minute later, Katie returned with a small orange bottle. The label on the bottle looked faded; however the lid had never been removed from the looks of it. It was as if the medication had never been prescribed because after picking it up, Katie simply tossed it into one of her cupboards and forgot about it. Kim tilted her head as Katie fiddled with the lid, obviously contemplating whether or not she should even hold the object.

Three pills were taken, and Kim noticed that the recommended dose was only one every twelve hours. It was worrisome; however before Kim could point out the instructions Katie started to speak. "I'm going to kill this thing."

Kim does not respond immediately. For some reason there seemed to be something else on her mind, like she just remembered something very important. Her hands fidgeted slightly in her lap, and her shoulders tightened. Katie noted this odd body language. "It will be dangerous." Kim warned. Suddenly her anxious gestures seemingly made sense. "You are facing a very powerful creature; a half demon, which in some cases can be more powerful than a full one."

"I don't care." The stern tone in Katie's voice caused Kim to bite her tongue. It became eminent to the angel that no matter how many times she would warn her new companion, nothing would get through her determination. Katie stood up again, and just as she began to move, Kim questioned what she was doing. "I'm going to research. I'm not going to go in blindly swinging." Katie shrugged and sat at her computer, getting right to work. Again, Kim was impressed. All of the things that the two brothers did while hunting a demon were naturally coming to the seemingly average girl. The brunette could have simply asked her for the information required to take down the creature, although she decided to get straight to work alone. The more the angel watched over the other, she was realizing that Cas was right before at the hospital. This human was special, and the angel's needed her kind of special.

Katie picked up the remote to the flat screen television from her desk and pressed the power button. She wanted to keep Kim entertained while she did her research. The sound of small puppies whimpering and a narrator explaining their young lives was what the two listened to. By the time Katie was finished, the next show had started, this time revolving around small kittens. "I liked the puppies better." Kim openly stated.

The television was turned off while Katie stood from her chair and took her notebook to show the angel her findings. There was a drawing of a devil's trap on the first page, and then some notes on how cambions were conceived, but nothing on how to kill them. Katie explained that she was at a loss, and that there was no way to truly kill a demon as far as the internet would tell her.

Smaller than average hands flipped between the two pages and Kim nodded at the thorough work. "There is a way to kill a demon." Kim informed while she pulled her hand away from the notebook. "The Winchester's, the two men who saved you, they have a knife that can kill any demon." After the angel said that, Katie jumped from her seat and ran to grab her keys. After she confirmed that there was a way to destroy the thing that turned her life completely upside down, and just realizing that it was so close, her excitement bubbled over.

"What the hell?" Katie spoke rather than thought. Frantically, she began to search the living room and herself for the keys to her car. If there was one thing that she never misplaced, it was her car keys. So when they were not in their usual place next to the door where she knew she had left them the morning before, her anxiety picked up. She froze in place as a thought crossed her mind. Kim stood up and attempted to approach Katie carefully in hopes of calming her down, however Katie bolted for the garage outside of her house.

It was gone, the car was missing. Katie had been leaning into the garage with her hand on the doorframe, and when she saw that the beloved automobile was not occupying the structure, her palm slammed against the side of the garage. She shouted out a derogatory term without thinking, going on about how when she finds the person who took her car she would kill them in some very unpleasant ways. Kim felt a sense of familiarity with this scenario. That was the very first time Kim had seen Katie angry, and it was amazing how quickly the human was opening up her emotions to the angel.

Katie spun around on her heels, about ready to storm off of her property and head into town to look for her vehicle. The thing that stopped her was her injury, the plaster cast hit against the doorframe as she tried to walk. Her wrist bounced off of the inside of the cast and sent a shock up her arm. A small groan of pain was muffled by pursed lips. Kim immediately stepped closer to Katie and looked at the cast in wonder.

"I did not want to do this, but now that I see that this is causing you more harm than good, I think you should allow me to speed up the healing process." Kim suggested, and almost immediately after, Katie agreed. Katie forgot about the incident in the hospital when Kim tried to heal her, and the pain that was caused in order to reach the product, however she was in too much pain at the time to think about that.

The power that Kim demonstrated in that one moment was both amazing and scary. A simple poke to the plaster cast was enough to shatter it into small pieces. Then, when Kim took Katie's hand in both of hers, a loud pop of the bones moving back into place was heard. The pain was like nothing else the human had ever felt before. She muttered a few choice words to herself and walked around in a small circle while flailing her wrist slightly.

This silly dance occupied her for a few seconds, and the only reason Katie stopped was because she realized that no matter how much she moved her wrist, there was no more pain. It was like nothing happened to it. A grateful smile appeared on her face and she thanked Kim with a simple nod. Kim, despite not understanding many human gestures with multiple meanings such as a nod, seemed to grasp the purpose.

Rejuvenated and pain free, Katie turned back to the empty garage and narrowed her eyes. She would look at her options, listing them in her head and crossing out the ideas that would be least likely to succeed. The first thought that came to her mind was that she could call the police; however she did not like getting involved with them because one of her relatives was part of the department and he would eventually tell the rest of her family how she had lost her precious car. She could also gather a search party, but by the time she could get enough people that she trusted enough to assist her, the criminals would be long gone. The brunette came to the decision to just go looking on her own and headed towards the town's main shopping district.

A small breeze moved around Katie as she walked, and that was only because she was walking faster than she would normally. Kim followed quickly behind her, taking two strides for each single stride the human took. There was a brief thought about whether or not this smaller human vessel was the best choice, but she knew not to question the archangel's decisions.

In the parking lot of a local supermarket was where the two found a 1967 Chevy Impala, absorbing the sunlight with its glossy black paint job. Katie was certain that the car was hers. Even if she had thought about the night before, there was nothing that would convince her that anyone else in town had an exact duplicate of her car.

Katie's attention immediately went to the two brothers who were stepping out of the car just as the girls had gotten within sight of the automobile. Anxious and reckless, Katie approached the car and slipped her arm into the gap in the window that had been left to keep the inside aired out. She got the door unlocked and entered the vehicle without a second glance at the interior. There was absolutely no doubt that this was her car.

"Get in." She commanded the angel while she tore off a piece of rubber from the side of her shoe. This piece of rubber was used to twist two wires together and avoid being electrocuted. Hotwiring a car had become second nature to her after she had to do it just to get her car started when she first started using it.

"I do not think you should be doing that. Dean is going to be-." Kim warned, attempting to stop her blinded companion from going any further. The roar of the engine cut her off, and then again it purred with each time Katie touched the three wires. The car started, and a proud grin appeared on Katie's face. "Dean is going to be road kill in a few seconds. Get in."

Obediently, the angel got into the car. She continued her attempts to convince Katie that it was not her car that they were sitting in; however all of her attempts went into one ear and out of the other. As the brothers left the shop with plastic bags in hand, they noticed the revving engine and figures sitting in the vehicle. Dean dropped his bags and let the items roll out onto the road.

Katie pulled out of the parking place and sped up with every intention of at least bumping them with the car. She was more interested in scaring them with the thought that she would run them over rather than actually doing so. Sam dropped his bags and grabbed his brother's arm, tugging him and running in the opposite direction of the car. Dean hopped sideways while being tugged, but then joined his brother in running off.

The absence of a trademark vinyl sticker on the dashboard of the Impala was the one thing that kept Katie's foot from completely flooring on the gas pedal. The car gradually came to a calm stop, and the sudden change of heart from the driver caused the angel in the passenger's seat to stare curiously.

Before any questions were asked, the driver's seat door swung open and Katie was on the ground within seconds. Dean was furious and he had no trouble demonstrating that fact. The guilty brunette lying on her side slowly sat herself up. She waited to be lectured, head fallen in shame that she had so carelessly stolen a car.

Black vans with little white dots stepped in front of Katie, the back of the shoes facing her. Katie raised her head to see Kim protectively standing between her and Dean. Then, with a slight tilt of the head, she looked past the angel to see Sam pushing Dean back and scolding him until he calmed down. The older, angry brother looked over Sam's shoulder and noticed Katie peeking around Kim, and the simple sight of her set off the rage once more. "Is this how you repay everyone who saves your life, ya' friggin' bi-?" Dean was cut off when his brother shoved him aggressively, the agitated younger brother's brooding eyebrows scrunching over brown optics.

Kim turned around to assist Katie to her feet, but she had already gotten up and had been brushing herself off. The smaller female then directed her attention back to the brothers when she was sure that no harm had been done to Katie. "This was just a misunderstanding. She didn't-." Kim began to explain, however Katie touched Kim's arm to stop her from wasting her breath. "He's right to be angry," Katie said, "I would be too if someone tried to steal my car and then attempt to run me over with it."

Dean popped his shoulders to straighten his jacket that had been wrinkled when Sam had pushed him. "Let's go, Sammy." He demanded, turning to get into the car. Suddenly, Katie remembered that originally she was supposed to search for the brothers, and if she lost them at that moment then she was sure she would never see them again. Desperately, she stopped Sam. "I can fix the damages. There's a garage on that corner over there." She pointed to a faded red brick building with a large front window that read 'Jake's Garage'.

"Oh, hell no!" Dean interjected, which caused Sam to elbow him in the upper arm. Sam nodded at Katie, and then she gave him a quick nod back as thanks. Dean rolled his eyes, entering the car and slamming the door shut. He waited for Sam to get into the car before quickly driving to the shop, leaving Katie and Kim in the dust.

Both of them began walking to the shop at the same time. When they arrived, Sam and Dean had already entered and had looked for the owner. The two of them saw that he was underneath an identical '67 Chevy Impala. Katie maneuvered around the two large men, calling out to the owner and beginning to explain the situation about the cars. "Jake, you're not going to believe-." Katie's eyes widened when she spotted her car sitting in the garage space.

Jake rolled out from underneath the Impala and rubbed his greasy hands on a towel that was tied to one of his belt loops. He was a man in his mid-thirties with light brown hair that was normally slightly gelled to stick up and dark grey eyes that could be mistaken for an off blue color in the right lighting. His teeth were as white as white could get, and straight due to the correction that braces had done for him as a child. He stood at a tall five feet eleven inches and was going to greet his close companion, but she simply ran past him to look under the hood of the vehicle. When she was done scanning all of the newly refined parts, Jake was standing next to her. She lifted her fist up and punched him in the arm, but then gave him a quick hug. "Don't ever take my car without telling me." She threatened; it sounded more grateful than intimidating.

With everything piecing together, Dean came to a slow realization. Sam pursed his lips at his brother in a way that said, 'she just thought it was hers'. Before Dean could come up with some sort of expression to counter his, Kim pulled Sam aside to chat with him about the knife.

While Kim and Sam were conversing, Dean stepped closer to Jake and Katie and listened to their conversation. "Where's Emmett?" Katie asked, looking around the room as if he was hiding somewhere. Emmett was Jake's childhood friend and co-owner of Jake's Garage. He was also Katie's high school crush, something Katie never liked to admit even though everyone who came to the garage regularly could have seen it. "I'm a little hurt, I get greeted with a punch to the arm and Emmett gets the look of an anxious puppy waiting for him." Jake teased, which caused Katie to narrow her eyes at him. The repairman put his hands up in his defense, chuckling through his teeth. "I sent Emmett out to do a few errands. I need some new tools."

There was a short pause before Jake began talking again, not allowing Katie to think of any kind of response to his previous statement. "The hospital called and told me that you had broken your arm. I thought it would be nice to surprise you by tuning up your car a little." Jake explained. Katie pulled the rag from Jake's belt loop, finding a clean spot on it and wiping off his cheek that had gotten some oil rubbed on it while he was working. The repairman did not pull away, obviously showing that this was not the first time Katie had treated him like a child. "But now I see that you look fine." A slight suspicion was in Jake's voice, and Katie smiled softly. She played it off casually, she knew that Jake would have questions the moment she heard the hospital had called, but she stayed calm.

"Yeah, they thought it was broken because I complain a lot when I'm in pain, you know that." Katie joked, tying the rag back onto the belt loop she had gotten it from. Jake laughed, nodding his head and looking as if he was recalling such a moment. When he had returned from his reminiscing, he noticed Katie had turned to face the car and bowed her head the slightest bit so that she was not exactly looking at anything in the car, but she was not looking ahead either. He knew exactly what that meant.

"Something wrong?" Jake asked. Katie looked up at him and forced a weak smile. "My," Katie hesitated, turning back to the car and taking a deep breath. It was hard to say it, that her sister was gone. In all honesty, she was still in denial that it had happened. "Sarah died." She said, feeling more comfortable saying her sister's name rather than calling her 'my sister', it lost a little bit of intimacy that way.

The immediate sympathy that scrambled onto Jake's face gave Katie a push to strengthen her weak smile. Forcing the happiness was her way of saying that she did not enjoy receiving the pity. "I have to go fix this car." The brunette said, leaving Jake before he could say anything. Jake joined Sam and Kim, introducing himself to the two. Katie walked over to the car where Dean was standing. The tall man turned to look at Katie. "You know, for a bitch you have a pretty good taste in cars." He said, eyeing the identical Impala through the window.

Katie rolled her eyes with a quiet laugh. "And you have a _great_ sense of humor, for a jerk." She emphasized the sarcasm in her statement, stepping towards the car and beginning to fix the wires with the tools she had grabbed from the inside of the shop. It did not take long to patch up the mess she had made, and when she stood outside of the car a few minutes later, she raised an eyebrow curiously when the hunter went out of his way to triple check whether she had done it right or not.

"I think I know my way around my own car." Katie said. Dean looked back at her, releasing a sigh when he came to the conclusion that she was right. He still felt the need to come up with some sort of retort. "You probably learned everything from the guy in there." Dean said, pointing through the window at Jake who was laughing at something Sam had said. Katie gave a questioning expression to Dean. "Jake, and yes I did. I'm sure you learned from someone else too. You don't look smart enough to figure out something like this on your own." Katie muttered the last sentence, although Dean still heard her.

Even if Dean could have thought of something to say to counter that insult, he could not disagree with her. He had learned from his father after all. He simply narrowed his eyes in her direction to keep a small shred of his dignity. Katie started to realize that she was being rude. "Sorry, that was mean." The front of her right foot rubbed the back of her left leg nervously. "I should be thanking you for saving me, so thanks. My name is Katie." Out of respects, she held out her hand in hopes that he would accept her handshake. Deep down, she knew that her apology was useless. It was pointless to apologize for being rude, because it would not take back the fact.

There was a definite hesitation on Dean's part of the handshake. For a few seconds he simply stared at the appendages that had been extended in his direction. Katie was worried that he would simply let her stand there like a fool. Dean remembered that Katie had gone through a lot in the past day, one of those things being that she lost her younger sibling. The hunter could not imagine anything worse than losing his younger brother, so he started to forgive the annoying female for the misunderstanding and the insults.

"Dean," He introduced himself curtly and took her head firmly, shaking it twice and then releasing. A big, relieved smile lifted the corners of Katie's lips. She was almost certain that Dean was adamant on not coming in contact with her after how she was acting, and to be honest she would not have blamed him. However, he did eventually shake her hand, and that was a start.

From the inside of the garage, Kim was watching Dean and Katie through the window. She could sense the happy aura coming off of Katie from the small distance, wondering what it was that the two were talking about. The angel observed Dean and realized that he was no longer bitter about earlier, in fact he looked like he had completely forgotten about it. That was strange, she was sure Dean would continue to be furious.

The two outside of the shop entered the garage once more. They parted without any sort of established farewell. Dean spoke with his brother for a moment before the two went outside. As Sam walked around Katie, he handed her a holster with a knife inside it. She looked down at the object handed to her and turned to look back at Sam just as he was stepping into the Impala. He nodded to her discretely, and then the Impala drove off.

A small piece of paper slipped through Katie's fingers and fell to the ground. She noticed it, picked it up, and then quickly scanned over it. A phone number was scribbled diagonally on a crinkled piece of scrap paper. Katie shoved the slip of paper into her pocket and quickly put the knife into her car glove compartment.

Just a few feet away, Katie could overhear Jake and Kim talking. The two had been conversing since the moment Sam and Dean had left. "So, I hope this isn't strange to ask, but how do you and Katie know each other exactly? I only ask because Katie has never mentioned you before." Jake asked. Katie felt her skin crawl, she knew that Kim would give a completely honest answer and that was exactly what Katie did not want. She did not want Jake involved in this situation at all, so she immediately cut into the conversation before Kim could even open her mouth to speak.

"She is one of my clients." Katie blurted out, which caused Kim to stare at her questioningly. Katie shot a stern look at the angel, which forced the confusion off of her face. "I was going to show her what I have drafted, but then I saw the car trouble that the guy that just left was having and thought I would help him out." Katie further explained. The way she was lying about every single thing that had happened was surprising to Kim.

Jake believed everything Katie said without any doubt. The fact that Katie was such a natural at lying was also a big shock to the angel. She would have never guessed after seeing such positive qualities. Katie was lead over to the car by Jake, who lifted up the hood and began to explain what he had done to the car while she was away. Once he was finished under the hood, he led her to the driver's seat and pointed to the stereo. "And this is the best part; I took out that fuzzy, sorry excuse for a radio and replaced it with something a little more modern. It took a while, but I got it." Jake said proudly.

It was obvious that Katie was giddy at this news, just the simple thought of being able to listen to music without the background noise of static bothering her was enough to bring whatever negative spirits she had up. She was so happy that she hugged Jake tightly, thanking him for being such a great friend. The mechanic chuckled and rubbed her back gingerly. Jake placed a fatherly kiss on the top of Katie's head before she pulled back, and this caused Katie to look up and make eye contact with him. She understood why he did it after looking at the expression on his face. He still felt sorry that she had lost her sister, so he was showing some affection in hopes it would cheer her up.

Katie gave Jake a reassuring smile, "Guess we should get going, gotta' look at those drafts." She said, turning her head in the general direction of Kim. The angel nodded, entering the back seat of the car. Jake stepped away from the vehicle, allowing Katie to drive out. A simple wave was shared between the three of them, and the Impala was out of the mechanic's sights within a few seconds. The brunette had her music playing loudly for the beginning of the ride.

The main reason why Katie had turned down her music was because she wanted to ask Kim why she was sitting in the back rather than in the passenger's seat. This conversation would have been brought to a quick end when Kim had said that she prefers sitting in the back seat because it is where she had to sit when she was in Dean's car, but Katie insisted on staying on the topic. "You know, you can sit up front if you want. I'm not going to force you to sit back there." Katie said, eyeing the rearview mirror to look at Kim every few moments. Kim shook her head, "I want to sit here."

Acoustic guitar strums could faintly be heard from the stereo, which prompted Katie to turn up the music again. It was the fact that an acoustic guitar did not need anything else to sound complete that made her prefer the instrument over all others. "She sits up high, surrounded by the sun. One million branches and she loves everyone." Kim could hear Katie singing along to the music quietly to herself, which she had to confirm by leaning slightly forward and seeing that her lips were moving along with the words. Her singing was barely audible which gave the angel a sense that she was not comfortable or confident enough to be heard just yet.

Tires rolled to a stop. The car pulled over onto the side of the street, and Katie removed her hands from the wheel to turn off the music and turn her head around. "I just realized that I have no idea where this guy is." She blurted out. It was comical, in a way. They were that far, however the crucial detail of their target's location was missing. Kim chuckled at Katie's sudden realization, having expected her to somehow pinpoint the half demon's location without any assistance at all due to the brunette's innate capability.

"I am able to give you a general location; I am not able to pinpoint an exact spot." Kim explained which caused Katie to just stare with no real reaction to the statement. There was a long pause between the two until Katie nodded her head slowly and waved her hand to gesture for the smaller female to go on.

Eyelids fell shut as the angel focused. It took a few moments, but she got it. Two street names were called out, and because Katie knew the town well she groaned quietly at the information. The streets were five blocks away, and each block was two or three buildings away from one another. Down each road there had to be at least fifteen more buildings on each side. The brunette did quick math in her head, estimating there to be a little over one hundred and fifty buildings to check. There was no way she would be able to find him.

"If you drive past it, I will be able to tell you how close you are." Kim said, which made things a lot easier on Katie. She started the car to drive up and down the blocks mentioned. A little over halfway through the blocks, Kim told Katie to stop. "To your left." The angel said, looking at a small, new American styled home made out of dark blue bricks and white siding.

It was finally setting in that Katie would be killing something, but that did not stop her from reaching into the glove compartment and pulling out the knife. "Alright, let's-." Katie turned to look at the back seat and found that it was empty. Kim had vanished, leaving her to do the job alone. The knife was strapped to Katie's side as she left the car by herself. She walked around to the back of the house to scout the windows and see just where the cambion was located. The home was only one floor, so when Katie saw that the man was not inside, she thought it was the perfect time to break in. The backyard was surrounded by shrubbery and fence, so when she used the knife to wiggle one of the windows open, none of the neighbors had seen anything.

Average was the one word that could be used to describe the inside of the home, but Katie had not entered to critique the demon's decorating style. There was a can of red spray paint sitting on top of a piece of notebook paper in the middle of the hardwood floor near the door. Katie suspected that it was Kim who had supplied these things, which also made her question why the angel had gotten cold feet and left so abruptly. Her drawing of a devil's trap was located on the piece of paper, and so Katie used that reference to spray paint the symbols onto the floor.

Once she was done, she waited. All she could do was wait. Any moment, her target was going to walk in through the door and be stuck inside the trap. Katie was very well aware that she only had a few seconds after he was trapped for her to make a move, so whatever questions she wanted to ask would have to stay unanswered. She would not jeopardize her life just to get answers that she would not want to hear either way.

Anxiously she leaned against the nearest wall. The sun set and darkness engulfed the house. The clock struck midnight, and Katie was starting to believe that the half demon had already fled. But just as she had stood to leave through the back door, she heard the clicking of the front door being unlocked.


	5. We've Outgrown the Things We Once Loved

That was it, the moment she encased the path she would take in that near future. She was going to die, she was sure of that. It was a surprise that the angels even allowed her in the house with the thoughts that she was having. Dying at the hands of a demon would be quick after trespassing into its territory, Katie knew that. There was no hesitation in jumping in after finding that out. Getting the knife and doing the research were just ways to ensure that Kim would believe she was serious in killing the cambion.

Those were never her intentions, she simply wanted to die. She had nothing left to lose; that was enough to feel worthless. After knowing that there were things creeping in the shadows she would never get peaceful rest. The paranoia would always be in the back of her head, reminding her that she and the rest of the people around her could die at any second by something that they could not explain. That was the most terrifying part, not being able to understand.

The door casually opened, the half demon entering the home without a worry in the world. His head had been turned to look at the small rack where he hung up his keys and then slipped off his shoes to set them on the floor beside the door. There were no sign that he remotely knew Katie was there, and she was standing in the middle of the hallway to the door.

It angered her. The sheer thought of knowing that this unprepared, oblivious creature was the thing that caused her sister's death was enough to get her blood boiling. But it was not just that, she also knew that he did not worry that she would come after him. He did not think that she had it in her to track him down after he killed the only person she saw as important. She was no threat to him, he had once thought, she did not have the experience to kill him like the two brothers did. She was insulted, enraged, and armed.

The man stepped into the devil's trap without a single care in the world, and just as he saw her across the hallway he had realized that he had been caught. A half demon was powerful enough to crack the floor underneath itself, which under the circumstances would destroy the trap and allow him the opportunity to kill his target. He was barely given enough time to blink, let alone summon the strength to crack the seal. The strange symbols on the knife glowed as the metal cut right through tender skin and into a beating heart. A bright light flickered from the cambion's eyes and mouth while a jolt was sent through the still breathing body.

Katie pulled the knife from the body, and it fell onto the hardwood floor. The knife was coated in a layer of blood, and soon after so was a small area of the floor. Pounding in her ears became more prominent as she noticed that her heart was racing in her chest. She was not dead, she had avenged her sister, and she proved that she was capable of doing so.

"I hope it was worth it, you son of a bitch." Katie said. She had to say something because the quiet around her started to suffocate her along with the sight of a lifeless body. Quickly, she ran the knife under lukewarm water in the sink and then escaped through the window that she had entered from rather than the door.

At the motel just on the outskirts of the suburban town, Sam sat awake while he stared at his phone. He thought of what his brother's angel acquaintance had said to him after they had arrived at the motel room. Dean had been taking a shower, leaving Sam and Cas alone in the cheap room. "You must not follow her. She has requested that she do this on her own, for her sister." With that, the man in a trench coat had left without any further explanation.

Sam was fidgety, anxious to get up from the thin mattress and go to the rescue of the girl who had never hunted anything before. He then remembered his first hunt, and also remembered that he had his big brother and father there to protect him if he ever got stuck. It only furthered his worry to think that the inexperienced girl was all alone. Just as Sam was about to stand up and leave the motel room his phone vibrated against his knee. Large hands quickly grasped the small device and answered the call from an unknown number at such a late hour. He knew just who it would be, or rather he hoped that he knew.

Thankfully, he was correct. The girl he was going to go search for was on the other end of the conversation, and her voice cracked when she asked he and his brother were staying to refresh her memory. Sam told her the name of the motel and thought that the conversation was going to end there. It did end, however neither of them hung up the phone. Katie had her phone plugged into stereo so that she could keep her hands off of the device while driving, meaning that she could not end the call herself. She could also not bring herself to say that she would see him in a few minutes because she wanted to keep him on the line for as long as she could. He was the first person she had communicated with after committing murder, and she needed someone there in some way, shape, or form. Sam had not hung up because she had not given any form of goodbye, and he knew just what it was like to latch on to someone after the first few hunts.

When Katie finally arrived at the motel, she hung up the phone which prompted Sam to stand up and leave the room quietly. He could see the expression on her face, she looked absolutely drained. Even in the dark of the night he could see that the little skin tone that she had before had turned pale in shock. She was slowly removing herself from the car when Sam had rushed over to ask whether or not she was hurt. Katie handed over the nice, slightly stained pink from the blood that had not been washed away in her rush to clean it off.

Because she was asked if she was harmed, she knew that she must have been acting strange. She turned to look at the rearview mirror on the side of the car and noticed how pale her skin had gotten. A deep breath calmed her down, and then she looked back at Sam, her side leaned against the impala, to explain exactly what had happened. Her voice was bitter as she explained that the half demon had just walked right into her trap. The much taller male is surprised by this comment, and is even more surprised when he heard that she had killed the cambion without asking a single question. "I suppose that gives a whole new meaning to shoot first and ask questions later." Katie joked, which caused Sam to chuckle and smile.

Katie's humor in the situation allowed Sam to loosen up. He had forgotten about his worry towards her mental and emotional state because he knew that someone who could crack a joke at a time such as that was going to be just fine. Sam also took the time to point out that Katie had flawlessly carried out her first job, "Guess you're a force to be reckoned with." The shorter female stared up at him after that statement, a wonder of what he could mean by that spreading across her face. It was obvious to Sam that after the past two days Katie would become a hunter herself. There was no saving her from that decision, she had lost her sister and had gone to the extent of destroying the culprit single handedly. Sam almost believed that it would be a waste to keep Katie from the field.

Sam offered to assist Katie in anyway, and while he was listing the things he meant by anything his eyes had wandered over her head. Katie turned around, seeing the black tie and tan trench coat of another tall man. Her body spun around and she took one step back to keep her distance from the stranger. In her surprise, she had yelled out, "Christ." In response to the title directed towards him, the angel said, "No, I'm Castiel."

A familiar, much smaller angel stepped from behind the coated male. Katie looked at Kim's sweater, and then at Cas' trench coat. She contemplated on pointing out with some snarky joke; however the thought was quickly forced away when the man in front of her held out his hand. "You made a very wise decision today." He began to speak, "Despite not getting the answers you hoped for, you thought carefully and knew what you were up against. Your assistance is commendable. Thank you, Katherine." The more Katie listened to his voice and tried to match it with his appearance, the harder it became to realize that the angel in front of her was the owner of such deep vocals.

"Call me Katie." The female smiled softly and reached forward to give Cas a firm handshake, but instead the angel turned his hand so that hers was laying in his palm. He then placed his other hand over hers, gripping her hand in between both of his with a grateful squeeze. Behind the swaying trench coat, Kim was smiling up at her mentor. She was glad that he was praising the girl who was meant to be her human, and also glad that she was a lot more open than Dean and Sam were when they had met two new angels.

Cas released Katie's hand and let his arms fall to his sides. As he did that, he turned to Sam and gave a simple, meaningless nod. This gesture confused Katie so she looked at Sam. He was standing behind her and when she turned back around to look at Cas, he was gone. "He does that a lot." Sam explained, lifting his shoulders only slightly in a tired attempt to shrug.

The brunette sighed while she bowed her head and reminded herself that she would have to get used to those kinds of things. As soon as she thought of that, it hit her; the realization that the one supernatural thing that she had ever found in her entire life was gone. She had no chance to get used to any factor of being with this group of people, because she could return to her normal life.

Before she got the chance to disagree with herself on everything she had just thought, Kim tugged on Katie's sleeve while she waved at Sam as he went into the motel. Kim lead Katie to the hood of the car, and Katie took the chance to rest her feet by leaning her weight against the hood of the car. The angel continued standing, just a step away from Katie. The human adjusted her glasses as she immediately asked the question that she needed to know, "So, why'd you disappear like that?"

Obviously the question had made Kim slightly uncomfortable, but the expression on her face also said that she knew that it was coming. She took a deep breath. "Cambions are capable of destroying all angels with a single word. If he were to know this word and I were to be there, it would be likely that I and all of my kind would have been destroyed." Kim stared straight through Katie, somehow looking at her yet avoiding eye contact. The angel's strict tone and careful placement of words gave Katie an odd feeling.

Things began to connect in the human's mind. She understood why the new angel had felt so grateful towards her, because she had gotten rid of a threat for all the angels. Kim had not put up much of a fight when it came to keeping Katie away from, potentially, her death. _Hell, she even gave me every reason why I should jump in_, Katie thought. Hazel hues sparked with a hint of doubt, she hoped that the theory that was forming in her head was completely false.

"Did you plan this?" Katie's voice was hesitant, quiet. The frown that had appeared on Kim's face when she saw that Katie was figuring everything out grew, and then suddenly went up to form a straight line while she went expressionless. "I did not plan this, I am simply following orders." Kim's voice is robotic, like she was trained to say those words. Something snapped inside Katie, the doubt in her eyes was replaced with full rage. Katie stood away from the car and turned her body so that she was facing Kim. She was no longer biting her tongue, "Orders, were you ordered to let my sister die?"

"That was not anticipated." Kim retorted immediately, her voice not changing.

"Then what was?"

"When the archangels saw the courage you had in the bookstore, they knew that you would be useful."

Katie raised her hand to Kim, index finger pointed out while the rest of her appendages were curled into her palm. "Don't you _dare_ call me useful, I'm not a pawn." Kim's expression faltered at this. If the other angel's saw her friend as a pawn she did not know that, but she knew for a fact that she had never once believed Katie to be any sort of tool. "Why couldn't the two demon hunters do it? It's what they do for a _living_!" Katie hissed, her voice began to get louder the more her rage kicked in.

"Please stay calm," Kim began, and no longer did she sound like some monotone drone, "The cambion was expecting the brothers. He was keeping an eye on them and had forgotten about you. That is how you were able to infiltrate so easily. He thought you would have stayed as far away as possible, not go looking for him." Everything the angel was saying made complete sense for a strategic plan, and that was what made Katie even angrier. Her hands were shaking in a fit.

Kim felt the need to try and console her friend, but the only way she knew how to do that was with words. "I know you are upset. That is natural. But your sister is in a-." Her attempts were ceased when an angry glare was shot directly at her. "Save it." Katie growled, throwing her hand up to dismiss the statement.

The angel bowed her head and bit her tongue in shame. Just a few moments later, despite feeling that Katie was growing calmer just by seeing her look so helpless, Kim lifted her head. Her focus to the space in front of her made it look like she was listening carefully to something. Katie tried to listen as well, however she heard nothing. She jumped slightly when Kim started to speak again, "You have a decision now."

All of the rage that Katie felt just a couple of seconds ago had vanished, replaced with curiosity at what kind of decision she would have to make then. Kim looked directly into Katie's eyes, explaining the decision quickly as if the answer was urgent, "Because of your help today, my superiors have decided to give you a choice. You can either continue doing this, being a hunter, or you can go back to your normal life. They, or rather I, want you to continue. I believe you can save a lot of people, Katie. But we also believe you should be given the choice to be able to return to your life, protected."

A scoff escaped Katie. The word 'protected' almost sounded like a mockery. There was no reason the brunette was going to believe that she was going to be protected if the angels could not protect her sister. With all derision aside, she thought about what it was like in her average, everyday life. She was reminded of the rut she had put herself in and how nothing special or contributive was ever done on her part. If she were to start hunting the supernatural, her life would mean a whole lot more than what it meant just sitting at home drawing and working on her car.

Chuckles left Katie, which surprised Kim. Those chuckles turned into a full, whole-hearted laugh. Through her laughter, Katie spoke, "If you were to tell me a week ago that all of this was going to happen to me, I would have thought you were absolutely insane." Kim tilted her head, wondering how someone's insanity was humorous. Katie went on, "I can handle understanding that you're an angel of the Lord or whatever. But to think that I would have killed a half demon and I was a tool of some angel plot. That's priceless." Tears welled up in the outside corners of Katie's eyes, causing her to bring a hand up and wipe away the drops.

Katie trailed off and her laughter subsided. A hand went over her stomach, indicating the nice pain that she felt from having such a good laugh. She looked down at the ground, her previously bright and large smile shrinking and becoming humble. "You think I can save someone?" She asked. The angel was still very confused at the sudden burst of laughter and how her anger could have vanished so quickly, however she nodded at the question without asking any of her own. "I believe you can save more than just one, but many." Kim said sincerely.

Thin hands were placed again wide hips, mocking a superhero stance as Katie lifted her chin to simply say, "Fine." She did not have to say anything else other than that one word for Kim to understand what she was implying. Kim was startled by this decision, until she remembered the selflessness that the human had showed at the bookstore when she had pushed herself in front of one of the employees to protect them. The angel could then see why the archangels had originally told her at the hospital where Katie found out that her sister was gone that she was going to be something great. It also became eminent to Kim that when her companion was angry or upset, she seemed to somehow make some kind of joke to lighten her mood in some way.

Without uttering another word, Katie stepped around Kim to get back into her car. The angel walks to the side with Katie and watches as she starts the vehicle. The lights flashed on towards the motel, specifically towards the room that belonged to the Winchester brothers. When Katie focused on the door of the room, she could swear that she saw it close which meant that it had originally been open. The brunette believed she had only imagined that because she was tired.

A lost, forced smile pushed onto Kim's expression while she waited for Katie to leave. Something told her that Katie would not want to spend any more time with her after being manipulated, so she would not pry and ask to stay with her. This still made the angel sad, the thought that she would not get to watch her human closely. The sorrow on Kim's face made Katie purse her lips together in exasperation. Katie was a sucker for a puppy face, and seeing the extremely adorable small female giving her such a sad look fiddled with her heart strings. A heavy sigh past her lips, "Get in; and this time, get in the passenger's seat."

The look of sheer joy and excitement brightened the sad, lost look that had previously occupied the angel's demeanor. Kim quickly vanished from the spot she was standing in, and Katie closed her eyes. She thought before she turned her head and guessed that the angel had teleported rather than simply walk to the other side of the car. The brunette slightly turned her head and opened her eyes; her thought was correct. The human shook her head and kept the snarky comment in her head to herself.

While Katie drove back to her home to rest for the night, Kim explained that she should speak to Sam in the morning and ask him to assist her by teaching her how to be a hunter. The angel went on to say that if Sam asked why or refused to do so, Katie could tell him that the angels wanted her to do it and if he would not believe her then Kim would convince him. She also mentioned that Katie should also get Dean to help her as well, since Dean was seen as a very experienced hunter. As Kim talked, a small smile grew on Katie's face. Katie knew that this would be the end of her repetitive lifestyle, and she was alright with that. She just hoped that with gaining a little excitement and leaving the comfort of home, she was also becoming the hero that Kim made her out to be.


	6. In the Business of Misery

A slimy, warm tongue licked up the brunette's face. Large paws of a Rottweiler was standing on the small compartment between the two front seats with his legs still extended to the back seat. The stress his owner was feeling had caused him to remove himself from his comfortable laying position and smother the pressured female with affection. These dog kisses brought a smile to the woman's face, and she rubbed the top of her companion's head. "Thanks Spike." The dog saw this as an invitation to the front seat, so he took it immediately. The owner sat up in attempts to grab the papers in the passenger's seat before they were crushed under the dog, but it was too late.

The woman's name was Lisa Maloret, an underappreciated demon hunter and one of the trickiest thieves that no one could ever accuse. She had a heart of gold but a silver tongue, making anyone without great patience immediately grow a disliking towards her. Her dog was her best and only friend; the two of them had been together for eleven years and had a bond stronger than most people had with their closest family. Both of them had been sitting in the old, white Chevy Cavalier for a few hours before Spike had made his way into the passenger's seat.

Heavy eyelids fell over dry optics in exhaustion. The papers that the Rottweiler sat on were an application for a credit card. Something about cheating people out of large amounts of money did not bode well with the infamous criminal. She could steal junk cars every one or two weeks, steal food for her dog every three days, and gamble stumbling drunks into emptying their pockets, but she could not simply fill out the form. There was also the thought that the credit card would be following her, so being tracked would be much easier for police and a hassle for her.

The debate with herself had been going on for so long and she had absolutely nothing filled out on the form. She was somewhat grateful that Spike had decided to sit on them. There was no way she was going to send in a crinkled application, and seeing as that was her only copy she had no choice but to forget about it. Spike had gotten himself comfortable in the passenger's seat, curled up with his head relaxed over his front legs. A quiet whimper was heard from the dog, and Lisa frowned slightly. "I know, boy. We'll get you something to eat tomorrow." She reassured while rubbing behind one of his ears.

It did not take long for Spike to fall asleep. He was weak from being hungry, and it had been past his normal bedtime in the first place. For the female however, it was much more difficult. She stayed up longer to think about all of the things she had to do the next day. Not only would she have to steal some food from the nearest convenient store, but she would also have to ditch the car that she was in and find a new one. This routine had become normal for her, but no matter how that lifestyle grew on her she would always remember the time when she almost had happiness.

Before she could think about how she lost that happiness, she rested her head against her seat and attempted to go to sleep.

How Katie had ended up in her sister's room, she was unaware of. The only thing giving off any sort of light was a laptop screen that was sat on the double bed in the corner of the room, pointed towards her. Katie looked around the small room and saw her sister sat in the computer chair. She was hunched over a piece of paper, her face barely visible in the dim room.

The older sister believed that Sarah was just drawing, so she was about to leave the room. Then something came on the laptop screen, a face. It was fuzzy, like a static texture had been placed over the image, but Katie could still see what it was. The cambion who she had killed was grinning on the screen, and suddenly Katie realized what was happening.

Slowly, Katie stepped towards Sarah just as she picked up the pistol from behind a stack of sketchbooks. She could not move any faster, no matter how hard she tried to. Her younger sister placed the pistol against her forehead and pulled the trigger in the same time it took Katie to move a single step. The room suddenly got brighter just to give Katie the terrifying sight of her sister's lifeless body and brain spewed on the wall behind her. The paper in front of her was not a drawing, but the suicide note Katie had read in the hospital.

She fell to her knees, heartbeat pounding in her ears and tears streaming down her face. Defeated with her head bowed, she fell forward while she heard a voice hiss in her ears, "You can't save her."

Cold sweat beaded down her face while her torso jolted upward in fear. She began to breathe heavily, as if she had been suffocated in her sleep. This fear she was feeling was irrational to her, only because even immediately after she woke up there was no memory of the nightmare she had so vividly experienced. With a sigh, she reminded herself that it was probably just a nightmare, even though there was nothing to confirm it in her memory.

Katie saw it best to get herself a glass of cold water to drink, so she went to her mini fridge and pulled a bottle from the top rack. Still facing the fridge, she took a long drink from the bottle. While she drank she turned around and saw Kim sitting on her bed with her hands folded in her lap. "I felt a sense of distress." Kim said. Mouth full of water, Katie removed the bottle from her lips to hunch over quickly and attempt not to choke from being startled.

The angel tilted her head at the gesture, unsure of why Katie would be frightened by her sudden appearance since she had been doing that for the past week. She imagined that the hunter in training would be used to it by then, but she was wrong. Katie wiped her mouth with her wrist and took a deep breath. It took all of the patience in her to hold back a comment about how Kim needed to stop teleporting in without warning, because she knew what the answer would be. '_I have no way of warning you before I am in your presence.'_

With an exasperated sigh, Katie placed her half empty water bottle on top of her fridge. "It was just a nightmare." She forwardly explained, even though she was not sure herself if it was a nightmare or not. Katie took a seat on the bed and then let her torso fall back so that she was half lying on the mattress. "Nightmares are a sign of stress or anxiety. Are you anxious for tomorrow?" Kim asked while she looked down at the tired girl.

"Not really," Katie said with a shrug, "It might just be the stress from all the bickering." For the past three weeks, Katie had been learning from the Winchester brothers on how to hunt and exorcise a demon. She was taught how to shoot a gun, having never picked up a firearm before in her life. Then she was introduced to the magic of salt and how it could save her life, or at least extend it long enough for her to think up a plan. She also took notes in a journal on what different kinds of creatures there were. The last thing she learned was how to fight physical creatures by sparring with the brothers. Dean was very reluctant to teach her anything until she gave a short speech on how it was her decision and that she would really appreciate the help. Sam was supportive as long as the angel's thought she would be some kind of help. Even after her little speech, Dean did not feel happy training her, so she ended up telling him, "If you aren't going to help me then I'll just find someone else who can, they probably won't be as keen to hunting as you are though." The discrete flattery was what really convinced Dean to help her in the end.

When Kim referred to being anxious about the following day, Katie was reminded of the plan she had concocted after she was told that the brothers had to leave town for a day to check out a vampire nest that had been recently ransacked by a group of hunters who had gone missing. Dean told Katie that she had to stay and continue practicing her shooting or do some more research because she was not ready to take on a case just yet. Katie had been insulted by this because before all of the teaching she had taken on one of the most powerful kinds of creatures alone and won, however that had just been pure luck.

Due to her irritation, Katie decided she would secretly follow the brother's for the case. She told Dean that she would stay home and continue researching, but as soon as she got home she told Kim that they were going to the nest just so she could prove to Dean that she was capable of doing this.

The angel's reaction to Katie blatantly disobeying orders was much stricter than Katie had imagined it to be. "You should listen to your teachers. They obviously have their reasons for not letting you go along with them." Kim stubbornly said. There was some kind of passion behind her tone, and Katie understood that this was because Kim had been following orders as an angel all of her life. Alongside learning things about demons and spirits, Katie was told a thing or two about angels; and from what she heard some angels were worse than demons.

Instead of fighting with Kim about it, the new hunter dropped the subject for a few hours until dinner time came around and the two were eating in her living room. Katie brought up the topic again casually, and added that she believed it would be her best bet at learning how to do this job right. Kim did not want to fight just as much as Katie, so she set aside her beliefs to agree with her human.

Kim stared at Katie, the dim light of the moon barely making any effect on the darkness in the room. Anyone could see that Katie was hesitant to start her new life; any normal person would feel this way jumping into such a career. A reassuring pat on the shoulder was issued by the angel, who could both see and feel Katie's nervousness. "I swear as your guardian angel, I won't let anything hurt you."

A tired smile weakly spread onto Katie's face. "Thanks. I just hope I'm cut out for this." She sighed. Kim had told her a few weeks ago that she was going to be a hero. After a few questions from the brothers, she had confessed that the main reason she was doing this was because of that reason, because an angel thought she could be so much more than she believed she could be. Dean and Sam were very forward about saying that there was no such thing as heroes, and that no matter what she could not believe that she would be able to save everyone. Katie arrogantly blew these warnings off, but as she sat in her bed she began to question if she should take their words more seriously.

Katie turned to pick up her water bottle from the fridge, and when she turned back she saw that Kim had vanished. Tired and skittish, the girl took one more drink of the water before she curled into a ball under the covers and went back to sleep.

The heat of summer had immediately fell upon the small suburban town that Katie settled in. She could only hope that the town she was driving to would have the same warmth, however driving across states meant that the weather would be much different.

A duffle bag filled with a large amount of clothes, a messenger bag protecting a computer and a drawing tablet, a suitcase filled with miscellaneous items for both hunting and everyday life, and a new weapons rack that had been cleverly installed to look like the bottom of the trunk occupied the once empty place in the back of the car. Surprisingly, there was still enough room in the trunk to fit a few more bags but Katie believed that what she had packed was enough. She was ready to leave home and start traveling, but she did not put the house up for sale just in case she ever needed a place to return to.

Even though Katie hated lying to someone who had practically treated her like family, she had to tell Jake that she was going to be studying abroad and would appreciate if someone looked after her house while she was gone. Jake teased her about having Emmett stay at her house while she was away, and then maybe he would just decide to move in with her when she returned. This brought a slight blush to Katie's cheeks and she asked Jake to be serious about this. The mechanic said that he was being serious, but then he laughed loudly and ruffled the top of Katie's hair. "Don't worry; I'm sure he won't destroy anything. If he does I'll tell him to take you out on a date to repay you." Jake had joked. Katie huffed quietly at his continuous joke, although she was half hoping that he was being serious.

Kim and Katie left Jake's Garage at eight in the morning after eating breakfast, which was cooked and served by the mechanic himself. Katie hugged Jake, squeezing him a little bit harder than usual because hiding underneath her cocky exterior she still had her doubts about being able to pull this off. After she hugged Jake, she visited Emmett in his room and he was still sleeping. She muttered that she would miss him while she was gone, and then she left before he could wake up and ask where she was going.

Lying flatly to her father figure was really difficult for her, but her innate ability to be dishonest outshined her hesitance towards the matter. As Katie was driving, she began to think about all the money she had spent to get all of the things that the brother's had said she would have to keep in the car. The only reason this thought had come up was because she wanted to get her mind off of Jake and Emmett. An entire payment was spent on the weapons and supplies Katie had bought, and she was sure that she would have to work with at least five more clients before she could get another payment equal to the one she had just blown away within a few days. She sighed, glad to know that her savings were still there for her to use in an emergency.

"So, what exactly are we doing on this job? I know it has something to do with vampires." Kim asked, honestly unaware of what the actual job was, "None of the others told me what we were supposed to be doing. Because, well, we are not really supposed to be going." The angel had taken every possible chance to remind the brunette that what they were doing was against what the brothers had said.. Katie laughed to try and show her friend that there was nothing to worry about. This was successful. "A group of hunters has gone missing after taking on a job to destroy a vampire nest," Katie took one hand off of the steering wheel and waved it dismissively, "Apparently there was some big bloodbath. All we really have to do is make sure all the vampires are cleared out."

The angel was hesitant to see Katie in any actual combat. Kim was very aware that Dean and Sam had been going easy on Katie during their sparring matches. Sam made it so that Katie focused on dodging any attacks he threw out, while Dean showed her different ways to get out of a tight spot. She was getting good at these two things because of all of the training she was doing, but neither of them focused on actually dealing damage. As far as Kim could see, Katie was too confident in her abilities to take down any supernatural creature, and that confidence had nothing but a sneak attack mastery behind it.

It was a long drive across many towns, took nearly five hours. Katie had not spent that long driving a car since her last vacation, which was four years ago after she graduated high school. The impala pulled into a gas station once they reached the town where the nest was located. She filled the tank and then went around to the other side of the car where the passenger window was. "Want to grab a few snacks?" Katie asked Kim. Kim nodded, and she was about to teleport out of the car and into the shop, but Katie caught her before she could. "Use the door." Katie said, opening the car door from the outside and letting Kim out. Kim's stomach growled and she placed her hand over it in attempts to silence it. She had not eaten since breakfast, and they had skipped their normal noon lunch time by an hour.

"Do they have those things we had for breakfast here?" She asked curiously. A questioning gaze was shot at the angel as Katie tried to remember what they had for breakfast. "We had a few things for breakfast. What exactly are you talking about?" Katie asked to try and get a better picture of what Kim was talking about. "The small, round disks with small chunks in them." Kim explained. Katie laughed slightly, "Cookies? Yeah, they have them here." Kim shuddered in joy and followed Katie inside the station.

Lisa was sat on the hood of the Cavalier just across the lot that was next to the gas station. She was lucky enough to make it to the parking spot, completely out of gas after the little trip she had. Driving two miles was all she could get out of the old pile of junk. Her original assumption was that the car would at least last the rest of the case. The nest was still half way across the city, so she would need a new ride if she wanted to get there by sun fall.

A gas station was always her best chance at grabbing a new car because not only was it a place where she could get a full tank of gas, but also most people left their doors unlocked while they went inside to pay. When the impala had pulled into the gas station that Lisa was watching, she could not help but to admire it from afar. It was obviously an old car, but it looked like it was in mint condition. "It'd be a shame if someone stole that." Lisa said to herself with a grin on her face as she shook off the guilt that was biting at the back of her neck.

"C'mon Spike." Lisa ordered and Spike immediately stood up to follow after his master. When they approached the car, Lisa got into the driver's seat and tossed her bag into the back of the vehicle. "Just like always boy, keep a look out." Lisa whispered to her dog. Spike held his head up high while he sat by the passenger's door of the car.

It was not long before the Rottweiler stood up and hunched his head down with a low growl as a warning that someone was approaching. The thief had been too obvious; Katie knew something was wrong when she saw a dog sitting outside her car. "Damn." Lisa muttered and peaked over the door to see the angry owner of the vehicle drawing near. She noticed a short Asian woman trying to stop Katie from getting any closer to the dog in fear that it would harm her, but Katie just persisted while saying, "It's just a dog." Kim distracted Spike by offering him affection, and the loving animal companion happily rolled onto his back for belly rubs.

Katie demanded that Lisa get out of her car, and she did as she was told; head bowed in shame. It was only a matter of time before she was caught for all of the crimes she committed. Lisa saw it fit that she try and apologize for her actions, but Katie cut her off. "Save it. Just take your dog and get out of my sight before I think twice about not calling the cops." The brunette hissed quietly.

The angel looked up at Katie while she continued rubbing Spike's stomach. Every hint of rage that came out of the brunette was sincere, however her words were not. There was no way Katie would bring the police into the situation because she was too worried about the authorities stumbling upon the cache of weapons in her trunk. The two had a conversation about it when she was acquiring the weapons. Kim's enjoyment in playing with the dog came to an end when Lisa snapped her fingers. Spike immediately stood up and followed after his master.

With a deep sigh, Katie got into her car and checked to see if anything was destroyed or stolen. Luckily she had arrived when she did because the thief was just about to cut the wires needed to hotwire the vehicle. "I promise I'll never leave you unlocked like that again." The worried owner said as she patted her hand against the dashboard of the car. The angel in the passenger's seat raised an eyebrow in question, but soon forgot about it when she opened her bag of bite-sized chocolate chip cookies.

After being so enraged Katie lost her appetite and decided she would just save the snacks for later. She turned around to put the bag in the back seat, but an unwelcome surprise was in the way. Lisa left her bag in the back of the Impala without realizing it. A small frown tugged at the corners of Katie's lips and she pulled the bag into her lap.

For a moment she was hesitant to open the bag and rummage through it. Her view on privacy instinctively made her hesitate until she reminded herself that the owner of the bag just tried to make off with her car. This was enough to motivate Katie into opening the bag and look through it.

On the top of the bag was a metal canteen with a cross etched into the bottom right corner. The first thought that came to Katie's mind was that Lisa was some religious, crazy woman. She pushed aside the canteen to see a container of salt, spray paint cans, and a dog bowl. Suspicions rose inside Katie the more she dug into the bag, all signs pointed towards the girl being a hunter. A leather bound journal was the thing that confirmed Katie's assumptions. There were pages upon pages of notes about different creatures that looked similar to the journal that the bookworm had been instructed to read by the Winchester's.

Toward the end of the journal were a few loose newspaper articles that were dated around that current day. The headlines read that animals had been attacking innocents in great numbers. Kim peaked over, munching on a cookie while she pointed at one of the articles that Katie had not picked up. Written in pen was an address, circled boldly and underlined three times. Katie could only imagine the kind of emphasis Lisa was trying to put on those few lines. Hazel iris' followed an arrow backwards down to another circled word, all capitalized letters, "NEST".

"Huh?" With a bite of her tongue and a quiet chuckle, Katie put the address into the GPS on her phone and mapped a path. She then returned all of the articles to the back of the journal. There was one final object in the duffle bag, a small wooden box that would be meant to hold jewelry. When Katie opened it, she found various photos of a Pitbull, the Rottweiler that was with her, and a few puppies. Kim frowned at the photograph, already very much aware of Lisa's situation because of the contact she had with Spike.

The angel swallowed another cookie before she decided to speak. "You should return that to her." Her tone made the statement seem more like a demand rather than a suggestion. Too engulfed in her own thought process to immediately respond, Katie looked up to Kim while she put twenty dollars into the journal and the rest of the items back into the bag. "Why don't you? You're the one who can pop in, set it next to her, and then disappear without bothering her." Katie pushed the bag off of her lap and onto Kim's, "Besides, I don't want to deal with another hunter this early on. Stupid and Sasquatch are all I can handle."

Kim raised an eyebrow at her friend. She wondered how Katie already fit in so well with the boys, sarcasm and all. As far as Kim could see it, Katie had the kind of personality that crashed so terribly with the Winchester's that it actually worked out to become a blooming friendship. She returned back to the conversation at hand by placing the bag back onto Katie's lap. "She is in the grocery store around the corner. I cannot just 'pop in' there." Through Katie, Kim was picking up subtle sarcasm. She was also using Katie's words against her, having been told multiple times through the past few weeks that she was not allowed to teleport to and from public places.

"Fine," Katie simply said, unable to argue with her own argument. She started the impala and drove to the grocery store Kim pointed out. It was not long before she saw Lisa trying to leave the store with her hand holding something underneath her black hoodie. "Unbelievable." The brunette muttered as she strapped the bag to her shoulder and grabbed her wallet. Spike growled at Katie as she approached the store, but she paid little attention to the hound because she knew Kim would handle him with ease. Quickly, she ran inside to stop Lisa just as the shop owner was going to keep her from stealing.

Katie touched Lisa's shoulder and pushed her away from the door before she could leave. She put on a smile and turned Lisa around to lead her towards the cash register. "I told you to wait for me near the cash register, Lzzy." Teasingly Katie pointed out that she knew about Lisa's alter ego and her career all in one little sentence. Lisa looked absolutely shocked, jaw dropped and eyes widened.

Thoughts of knocking out the arrogant stranger and running out of the store popped into Lisa's head. They were thoughts that she knew where ungrateful, especially as Katie paid for the food that was nearly stolen, but she could not help but feel slightly bitter towards this girl who had dug into her work life without a care for what she was getting herself into. As the two left the store Lisa asked, "Why'd you do that?"

A warm smile that was put up as a façade turned into a carefree straight expression. Katie handed over the duffle bag that she had on her shoulder. "You left your bag in my car. Unlike you, I'm not a thief." She was being harsh, still very much upset that her car was nearly taken from her again. The seasoned hunter grimaced at the comment, wanting so bad to retort and start an argument. She bit her tongue though, all because Katie had just paid for Spike's meal.

No 'thank you' was issued, and it was also not expected. Pride was something that Lisa shamelessly demonstrated and she was not going to completely throw it away to someone she knew nothing about. Lisa approached Spike, who was being bombarded with affection by Kim. Spike stood like the soldier he was when he saw his companion while his tiny tail wagged quickly back and forth. Kim joined Katie, and the two departed from the thief and her dog once again.

The two girls went back into the impala and Katie began to drive off, obviously conflicted with something because her nose scrunched indecisively. Katie took a U-turn and drove back behind one of the buildings where they could still see the girl and her dog. Guilt was biting at the brunette's heels. Despite her anger, the urge to help someone in a difficult situation shadowed her emotions. "Why are we watching her?" Kim asked; not sure if Katie thought there was something wrong. There was no response.

While her dog munched away at the dog treats happily Lisa was searching through her bag to make sure nothing was stolen. She was more than surprised to find the money inside her journal, and when she looked up she half expected to see Katie standing in front of her with a smug look on her face. Lisa hated handouts, but desperate times called for desperate measures. The huntress went back into the shop and bought a bag of dry dog food and some water bottles for Spike to consume over the next few days. It did not matter if she was hungry herself, her best friend always came first.

Annoyed groans came from Katie as she pressed her forehead against the top of her steering wheel. Kim was not quite sure why Katie was acting in such a manner, but she decided not to ask. Instead, she asked about something different. "Maybe we could offer them to come with us? There is plenty of room for-." The angel was not even given the chance to finish, because Katie looked up at her and cut her off, "There's no room for a dog. He'd just make a mess of my car." That was not the true reason, and it would take a while before she would feel comfortable talking about it.

Two sudden knocks at Katie's window caused her to jolt up in her seat, heartbeat racing faster for a short period of time. The frightened girl turned her head to see Dean angrily glaring down at her, obviously upset that she had disobeyed the brothers. Sam was stood a few feet behind his older brother, seemingly exhausted from trying to stop Dean. Katie put the car in park and tried to sneak one last look at Lisa and Spike, but the two were already gone.

Dean tapped the window again and then gestured for Katie to get out of the car. Hesitantly, Katie stepped out of the vehicle with her head bowed. "I thought we told you that you weren't ready for a case yet." Dean angrily huffed, talking down on Katie as if she were a child. He stood firmly over her while she ducked her head into her shoulders, trying to hide away. Dean let out another angry huff, "You're lucky we spotted you before you went off and did something stupid."

"The best way to learn is through experience, though." Katie tried to defend herself, however this defense was hollow because she was still cowering into her shoulders. The hunter rolled his eyes, "That doesn't apply here. You can get killed trying to learn from experience." Kim had been listening to the conversation from her seat and if she did not do something soon it would go on for hours. The angel decided to stop the fighting. "We are wasting time bickering." Sam chuckled at the comment, about to make the same argument.

Dean glared at his brother before he turned back at Katie. She had pulled out her phone the second Dean got distracted so she could bring up a map of the local area. Quickly tapping away at the screen, she sent a message to Dean with a map of the area on the opposite side of town. "Some of the locals are suspicious of this area, you can go there." Kim stared at the back of Katie's head in hopes of burning guilt into her brain for lying again, but it was useless.

One of his many phones rang, so Dean pulled the source of the noise from his pocket and checked the message. His eyes suspiciously scanned Katie's face and then Sam cut in. "Looks like you got the research part down." He said, smiling at her progress. Katie laughed, thanking him.

"And what will you do?" Dean asked, still not convinced that she would just give up. Katie shrugged, "Guess me and Kim will just go out to eat or something." She got back into her car and smiled at the brothers. "Good luck." It took all of her power to keep herself from laughing at the thought of them driving around in circles.

Katie drove away, and the two brothers walked back to their car. Sam was grinning at Dean, the way he always would when there was a girl in Dean's life. Eyeing his brother, Dean questioned why he was giving him that look. The moose shrugged, "I dunno', you just seem to be a little less stubborn with her." Dean rolled his eyes. "Let's be clear, that is never going to happen." He said while waving around his hand for emphasis. The two got in the car and Sam mumbled, "Whatever you say."

Lisa approached the nest with Spike tailing her heels. There was a dumpster outside of the old wooden building on the outskirts of town that Lisa hid behind. Just in time, as well, because someone was coming around the house dragging something behind them. A thud sounded every time the creature took another step up to the porch, and then the noise suddenly stopped after the door closed. With a deep breath, Lisa peered over the dumpster to check and see if the vampire had actually gone inside. Luckily it had, and she waited a few minutes before she advanced to the porch. The door was locked, so she knelt down and pulled a lock pick out of her hoodie pocket. It took less than a minute to crack the lock, and she was inside. With shotgun in hand, she carefully opened the door and prepared herself for the worst.

In the opening of the building there was a small room with an open entrance that lead to a hallway with one door on the left and three more entry ways on the right. Everything was dark; the electric bill probably had not been paid for months with the way the wires were collecting vines because of the lack of maintenance outside the building. Lisa tested the floorboards with the tip of her converse boots. Loud creaking came from them, just as expected. A quiet sigh past her lips as she gave on the quiet approach and just walked casually through the home. The hardwood floors were stained with fresh blood that lead a path to the one door on the left, so that was where she had to go.

Checking the other entryways for other vampires seemed like the best idea since she did not want to get attacked from behind. First, she looked into the closest doorway and saw that all of the furniture in the living room had been torn apart and stained in blood. Debris from the walls and ceiling had fallen onto the floor and it was completely trashed. There were parts of both people and vampires scattered; it was just starting to smell because of how close she was to the room. Spike bowed his head to the floor and scratched at his nose, scampering away from the room. Lisa then checked the two other rooms, and both of them were very similar. She had to step over corpses in the hallways, just then noticing how untidy everything was because she was close enough to see in the dim light. When she was sure there was no one else but the one behind the door, she tightened her grip on the gun.

The door that she had to go through lead to the basement, and it was left open in carelessness. Wooden steps led down to a very dark, humid room. Lisa reached for the doorknob, expecting Spike to be behind her until she heard him near the front door, growling. '_Shit, there's more.'_ She thought, trying to look for a place to hide. It was too late though, she could see the shadows approaching. Without any other option, she readied her shotgun and put her finger on the trigger. The moment those things came into her sights, she would shoot and run.


	7. I Can Tell We're Gonna' Be Friends

Finger itched for the trigger, ready to fire instinctively at the intruder without a second thought. The barrel of Lisa's gun was pointed at a familiar face. Luckily enough she was able to process the situation before she followed through with her initial shot. "Why are you here?" She whispered, eyebrows knitted together in annoyance.

Katie was too busy staring at the back of her angel's head. The second that Kim noticed that her human's life was threatened she jumped in the line of fire without hesitation. Sure, Katie knew that Kim had sworn to protect her, but she never expected that she would be so willing to throw her life on the line. It was somewhat humbling, but also worrisome. Shrugging off the thoughts, Katie looked up at Lisa. "This is my case just as much as it is yours." She stated.

Eyes rolled angrily, and Lisa waved her hand to shoo the two away as if they were children. This quenched any of her suspicions that the other girl was a hunter, but that did not mean she was at all willing to work with her. Without even waiting for them to leave she turned back to the basement door and quietly walked down the creaking steps. Katie quickly follows, Kim just behind her. When Lisa hears the footsteps behind her she lets out an exhausted huff. "I'm not responsible if you get hurt, got it?" She whispered, knowing they would not leave.

The room around them is much larger than expected, however that space is mostly occupied with a maze of boxes that all looked filled with objects. The boxes are labeled with dates and years, some of them as early as the eighteen-hundreds. It is hard to see these dates however, because the room is very scarcely lit. The only light is coming from across the room, behind a wall of boxes from where the girls are standing. Lisa tells Spike to wait at the bottom of the steps, not wanting his thumpy footsteps to alert anything beyond the barricade.

Leading the small group, Lisa maneuvers around the boxes virtually silent. It becomes clear to Katie and Kim that she has a large skillset when it comes to hunting, and that only makes the decision of not asking her to join even more difficult. While the new hunters are impressed with her, Lisa was also impressed with them. She could hear them, but only barely. She had assumed that they would shuffle their feet like most other hunters she has met before.

Around the corner was where the light was coming from, and that meant that if the occupant was anywhere it was there. Lisa readied her gun, and Katie lifted hers as well cautiously. Kim looked at Katie's hands and saw them slightly shaking, proving the nervousness that she had sensed the night before. Quickly, the group comes out of hiding and both Lisa and Katie point their guns towards a hunched over body. The vampire is feeding, blood covering below her mouth and hands.

Lisa takes a shot without hesitation, but also misses in her haste. The vampire looks up from it's dinner and stares at the group with crimson red, fearful eyes. With bloodied hands raised, the creature tries to show that it is going to surrender. Katie keeps her aim on the girl, but then Kim touches her shoulder to stop her from taking a shot. "It's an animal she is feeding on." The angel whispers, and that brings Katie to stare at the dead deer on the ground.

Sam had once told Katie a story about a group of vampires who were not harming humanity and only fed on animal blood to survive. If this was a similar situation, there was no reason to threaten the creature's life. Katie lowered her shotgun, showing the scared girl that she was not going to hurt her. Lisa however, had a different plan. She started to run at the girl with a syringe filled with some kind of dark liquid.

Without time to think it over, Katie chases after Lisa and grabs her arm just before she is about to stab the vampire. Startled, Lisa drops the syringe and it shatters on the ground, the thick liquid oozing onto the ground. Without an effective weapon, the seasoned hunter was forced to back away from the vampire quickly as she glared at Katie. "What the hell, man?"

"She isn't going to hurt us. Right…?" Katie looked to the creature to gesture for her to nod in agreement. The vampire was cautious at the weapon that Katie was holding, so she did not nod immediately. Noting this reaction, Katie set her gun down and held up her hands. The vampire nodded.

While the vampire did look scared and hesitant to move let alone attack them, Kim still kept a close eye on her. If the creature were to even take one step closer to Lisa or Katie she would be ready to defend.

"What's your name?" Katie asked the girl. Lisa reached behind herself, pulling a long machete from its sheath and quickly running at the vampire while both she and Katie were distracted by idle conversation. Staring in horror, Katie watched while the vampire's head thumped against the ground and rolled to a stop. Lisa wiped the weapon off with the vampire's clothes, slipping it back into it's sleeve. "You'll thank me later." Lisa rolled her shoulder as she spoke, not making eye contact with Kim or Katie.

Hands balled into fists, and Katie let whatever anger she was feeling get released without any hesitation, not bothering to try and calm herself down. Kim was surprised at this, watching quietly as the argument unfolded.

"Why would I thank you? She wasn't going to hurt us. You're just as much of a monster as she was!" Katie shouted.

"You must new to this. These things aren't friendly, no matter how much they make you think so. All they want is to escape and continue killing innocents." Lisa explained, searching one of the many boxes to see if there was anything of value.

Katie paused for a moment, gritting her teeth as she tried to see Lisa's side of the argument. She could not. "My job here was to kill hostiles. That girl was not hostile."

"She could have been."

"But she wasn't. You had no right to kill her."

"I had every right!" Lisa raised her voice, turning away from the box to look straight at Katie. The rage in her eyes was building the longer Katie stared at them, and that frightened her a bit. If she had the impulses to just kill a girl because she's a vampire, who knew what else she would do.

Thinking about this brought Katie ot the conclusion that Lisa was her superior. She obviously had much more experience in this situation and could have some dark past that has lead her to feel that great negativity towards monsters. Katie only knew this because she was comparing Lisa's tone to the way Dean talks to her when he is aggravated. Kim suddenly touched Katie's shoulder, and without warning all of the negative emotions she was feelings left.

Kim had not done this before, had never felt it necessary. But at the time it felt like the most logical thing. The angel wanted her companion to recruit the expereicned hunter, not push her away because of one situation. Katie did not notice that all of her anger had gone away because she thought it was just being replaced with sympathy for Lisa. Kim would never tell Katie what she did.

The quiet in the room began to choke Lisa, so instead of staying to bicker further she decided to take her findings and walk back up the stairs. Spike followed her up, happy to find that nothing happened to her in all of the commotion. Katie swiftly followed after her, "Hey, where are you going?"

"Why does it matter to you?" Lisa words stung quite a bit, but Katie would persist.

"If you have nowhere else to go, then…" She hesitated, waiting until they were completely up the stairs to finish her statement, "Join us."

Kim was hopeful, the excitement shining in her eyes. If that was all it took to change Katie's mind on something then she would have to go it more often. She shook her head at the thought. No, that's wrong. The angel's hopes were squandered before they could get out of hand.

Lisa stopped in her tracks when the offer was given to her, and for a small moment it felt like she would have accepted right then and there, however she simply turned to look at the two girls. "I'd rather eat a cactus then work with you." This attitude was beginning to get on Katie's nerves. It reminded her too much of Dean, and she only needed one of those in her life. Lisa turned away to continue walking away but before she could get any farther Katie had grabbed her shoulder and turned her back to face her.

A barrage of images zipped through both of their minds. None of it made any sense, it moved all too quickly. A lot of it was gory, dark, and frightening. Screams coming from familiar voices rang in their ears. Then a bright light blinded them, and Katie was forced to release Lisa. The noises and images came to an abrupt halt upon removing contact. Lisa's head began to pound with an unbearable pain, a familiar sensation that she had been trying to push aside. Katie simply stared into space with an astonished look on her face.

There was a long moment of quiet before Katie finally rubbed her eyes and spoke, "What was that?"

"Does it look like I know?" Lisa snapped, an intense glare shooting in Katie's direction. Her voice just made the headache worse.

Katie frowned, "You're so mean."

Lisa's glare got more brutal before she attempted to leave once more, telling herself that she would start throwing punches if Katie touched her again. Katie did not move forward this time in fear that she would trigger the visions again, but she did continue talking.

"I think we'd make a good team." That did not work. "Why would it be so bad to join us?" Neither did that. Katie bit the inside of her cheek as Lisa reached forward to open the door, her hand nearly touching the knob. "You saw what I saw." She burst out, desperate to get Lisa's attention. This was successful. Lisa put her hand to her side and turned her head to look at Katie. "The jumble of pictures and noise. Is that supposed to mean something to me?"

If she did not keep Lisa interested, she would probably lose her for good. She looked to Kim for support, but Kim was playing with Spike. Katie sighed, turning back to the angry hunter. She put on her best persuasive smile. "Of course it is. Aren't you curious as to what all of it is?" She spoke convincingly, a tone that tried to get on Lisa's level. Lisa did not respond.

Without any reaction, Katie was left to continue speaking. She looked down and bit her bottom lip carefully. "Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot. But that is mostly your fault for trying to break into my car." As she spoke, she blocked the path between Lisa and the door with her body. Katie crossed her arms, really struggling with dropping that incident. Lisa rolled her eyes, "That's not convincing me to join, if that's what you're trying to do."

"But you want to be convinced." Katie immediately retorted, raising an eyebrow curiously. Lisa paused once more, looking to Spike who was happily rolling around on the ground near the short asian. She thought about how her lifestyle would affect him down the road. He was already beginning to struggle, and it would only get worse from here. If she were to go along with them, they would be able to feed him and keep him happy when she would not be able to.

Then there is the downsides. Even though Lisa does not particularly like Katie, she does not want her life to be in danger. People who spent long amounts of time with her tended to die off like flies within a few weeks. She attracted danger, for whatever reason she still did not know. Sighing, Lisa came to a conclusion.

"We'll see how this goes." She said. Her reasoning was that even if the girl were to die sometime soon, which she would try her hardest to prevent, she could at least give Spike a proper life for a while. Katie could not help but smile. Lisa's eyes peered behind the beaming brunette. Katie felt a draft coming from behind her, as if the door was open. It was, and two large, angry men were standing in the doorway.

Kim quickly stands up to pretend that she was not just gushing over a dog, and Lisa was staring at the taller man. Her first thought was, '_Wow, he's hot.' _She looked away before she was caught staring. Katie raised an eyebrow at the two, and just before she was going to turn around to see what was behind her a rough hand grabbed her shoulder and spun her around.

Katie flinched, preparing to be scolded into the next century. She caught a glimpse of the brothers expression and saw that Sam looked absolutely exhausted while Dean was simply boiling with rage. "You sent us in the opposite direction on purpose!" Dean shouted, refraining from grabbing Katie's collar.

"I needed to prove that I was ready somehow." Katie retorted, attempting to stand her ground and stop cowering. If she was going to be a hunter, she was not going to allow to big bullies scare her.

"You weren't ready though, you still aren't. We haven't taught you anything about vampires other than their teeth can be retracted. If you had run into one without knowing…" Dean stopped mid-sentence, pushing Katie aside to scan the room and getting a good look at Lisa. He narrowed his eyes at the stranger, letting Katie stand in front of him again before he continued speaking, "Did you find any?"

Being reminded of the vampire that was so abruptly killed, Katie bowed her head and nodded. "Yeah, but she killed it." Lisa looked up and instantly locked eyes with Sam, then the two both looked away at the exact same time. Dean noticed this, but was too busy trying to figure out what happened to point it out. "Who are you?" He spoke to Lisa, his tone angry.

Lisa lifted her head to look at Dean, a glare almost instantly sparking in her eyes. She did not deserve his attitude because if anything she had saved Katie. "What's it to you?" She hissed back, hip cocked and arms crossed. Dean rolled his eyes, "Just answer the question."

"Maybe you should ask nicely, Winchester." Everyone in the room looked to Lisa in surprise, all trying to figure out how she knew their names. Dean's teeth were grinding against each other, already disliking the new girl. Sam chuckles and reveals a small smile, glad to see there was someone else who was willing to battle Dean verbally. The topic of her knowing who Sam and Dean were was dropped almost as immediately as it was brought up.

Sam pushes past both Dean and Katie before he held out his hand for a handshake, taking Lisa's hand carefully in his and holding it delicately. "My name is Sam. What's your name?" He asked politely, aware of a thing called manners. Lisa had to stiffen her knees to keep them from buckling underneath her. She cleared her throat, smiling at the charm. "Lisa." She introduced. Dean rolled his eyes, annoyed that his younger brother was able to get her to comply to quickly.

Dean's annoyed expression caused Katie to chuckle under her breath, and Dean looked over to see what she was laughing at. His eyebrows scrunched downward, pinching Katie's earlobe. "You're still in trouble." He lowered his voice so only she would hear. She whimpered, pushing Dean's hand away from her ear and rubbing it gently.

While Dean and Katie were speaking, Sam and Lisa were having their own conversation. They were already very comfortable around each other, their body language noting a very relaxed atmosphere.

"So, what are you doing here?" Sam asked.

"I'm a hunter. I heard about this case and I was already in the neighborhood so…"

"Convenient."

Spike approached the two, sniffing Sam cautiously. A wide grin spread across Sam's face, ecstatic to see a dog. He had always wanted a pet, but with all of the moving throughout his life he was never in a stable enough situation where a pet could even be considered. He knelt down beside Spike, holding out his hand to let the Rottweiler accept his scent. Spike rolls over beside Sam, his paws dangling in the air. Sam chuckled, scratching Spike's stomach playfully.

Rapidly and happily, Spike's back leg began to kick. Lisa laughed, placing her hands on her hips in disbelief. "Looks like you found the spot." Sam's smile revealed his prominent dimples and Lisa nearly cursed out loud. He was just too perfect. They continued speaking for a moment longer, making quick banter. Dean was still scolding Katie, going on and on about how irresponsible she was and that this was serious business. Katie had stopped listening a long time ago.

Kim came back up the stairs, having gone down to the basement when Sam and Dean had arrived to go and clean up the mess. She watched the group and felt a sense of correctness, like these people were meant to be all together as a group. She approaches Katie and notices the red, irritated skin on her ear. A frown pulled at her lips and she glared at Dean, immediately assuming it was him. Dean scoffed at her.

Katie checked the time on her watch and saw how late it was. A yawn crept up and then escaped her mouth before she threw her arms up to stretch. "We should go to the motel." Katie pointed out, ducking under Dean's arm to leave the building. Before she stepped down the steps she turned her head to look back at Dean. "The dog is riding with you." She quickly said, hopping down the porch steps.

Dean, completely not agreeing to that demand, quickly followed after Katie and grabbed her arm before she could get in her car. "I don't think so. They're your partners so they ride with you." He stated, getting extremely close to her without thinking about personal space. When Dean noticed how close he was he immediately shoved himself back. Katie used this opportunity to get into her car and close the door.

"Son of a-." Dean slammed his hands against the hood of Katie's car. Katie rolled down her window, "Hey, watch how you treat her." She said angrily, stalling until Kim got into the passengers seat so that she could hit the gas pedal and drive away. With little time to move his foot, Dean was lucky that he did not get driven over. He turned to Sam in hopes that he would understand how unfair this was, but Sam was simply smiling while he continued to speak with Lisa. Sam held the back door of Dean's impala open for Lisa, but Spike immediately jumped in instead. "Hey! Make sure he doesn't ruin anything!" Dean shouted, jogging to the car.

Kim buckled her seat belt and turned to look out of the back window at the small group. "You know, Dean and Sam aren't going to be with us every day. Spike will have to be in this car eventually." Kim explained while she leaned back in her chair. Katie grinned, "Yeah, but that doesn't mean I can't exploit this opportunity." The drive to the motel was short, and when they arrived they immediately headed inside. Katie rented out two rooms and waited outside for the rest of the group to arrive.

When Dean's impala parked beside hers she patiently waited for Lisa to approach her. Dean and Sam went to the lobby to rent a room for themselves, Dean sending her one of the dirtiest looks she had ever seen. She shrugged it off. Lisa was wiping off Spike's drool from the backseat, reluctantly complying with Dean's wishes. Once she finished she exited the vehicle and approached Katie, who without warning threw a key at her face. Luckily she was able to catch it.

Confused, Lisa eyed her key and then the other key in Katie's hand. It had been a long time since Lisa has been able to afford a motel room, but not long enough for her to forget that a cheap motel like the one they were at was not luxurious enough to give out two keys per room. "Why would you waste money on two rooms when we can all fit in one?" Lisa's view on the importance of saving money had heightened through her years of struggle in finance. Katie looked at Lisa curiously, "Do you want to share a bed with either of us?"

Katie wanted to hide the fact that Kim was an angel from Lisa at the point. She did not want to pressure her with being forced to work with both a human and an angel from the very beginning. Angels did not have a good reputation amongst hunters, as far as Katie knew. If she waited a little bit to tell her, then at least Lisa would be given the chance to calm down and adjust to them.

"There are couches in these rooms normally, I can sleep on that." Lisa responded, and Katie simply sighed. "Alright, I'll only get one room tomorrow." With nothing else left to say, Lisa nodded and lead Spike to their room for the night. This would be the first night in a long time that she was going to be sleeping in a bed, and that was exciting. Just as Lisa was about to unlock her door and enter her room, Katie spoke. "Hey," She waited for Lisa to look at her, "Goodnight."

The sentiment behind her words was obvious, and it was something Lisa was not accustomed to from people she had met just that day. She raised an eyebrow suspiciously, then nodded and returned the statement. Then she finally entered her room and closed the door behind her.

Soon enough Katie was headed to her room, inserting the key into the slot. She turned to her car to see that Kim was not in the back seat, so she expected to find her inside of the room already. Before she could turn the key and find out, however, she overhead Sam and Dean bickering just a few feet away. Katie lifted her head to look at the brothers just as Dean was saying something about how he could not believe he actually let that happen. Sam was nodding slightly, just wanting to get in the room so that he could sleep. Dean looked up towards Katie and shot her another nasty look before he entered his room, Sam right behind him. Katie sighed, hopefully Dean would get over it quickly.

Finally, Katie brought herself to unlock her door and enter the room. Exhausted from the events of the day, she plopped down on the bed closest to the door and rested her head against the pillow. Kim was sat on the opposite bed, obviously itching to ask questions. "What made you change your mind about Lisa and Spike joining us?" She asked without even the slightest bit of hesitation. Katie smiled slightly, "Other than the fact that she's in love with Sam and I could not bear to see that fall apart?" Her tone was mildly sarcastic, a hint of truth behind her words.

Kim, who still did not quite understand how love worked down on earth, did not know where Katie's theory was coming from. Katie dismissed her confusion by answering the question properly, "I'm still not too ecstatic about having a dog around, but I just think it will be overall better for everyone if she and Spike are around. Especially for us, too baby hunters who barely know what they're doing. Plus, Dean and Sam are getting pretty sick of teaching me." A quiet chuckle muffled against closed lips, and Katie closed her eyes. The exhaustion began to truly settle then.

"Are you afraid to work without them?" Kim asked Katie, sensing some anxiety being buried deep down. Katie shook her head slowly, "No, I don't want to depend on them." There was a pause, and Kim thought that she was done speaking and also felt like that was not a good enough reason, but then Katie continued. "They've already done- so much." Katie dozed off, and that answer satisfied Kim enough to make her hold off anymore questions for later, The angel teleported back to the impala outside, sitting in the back seat.

Being left alone in the impala gave Kim a lot of time to think over the events of that day. Throughout the night she compared personality traits of all of the members of the group and came to the conclusion that things would work out very well for this unlikely team. She also contemplated Katie's theory on Sam and Lisa getting together, and she tried to imagine what romance was like for humans. It was surprising how an angel who wished to support humans knew so little about human behaviour. Kim decided to just agree with Katie and believe that Lisa and Sam would get together soon.

As her thoughts occupied her through most of the night, Kim stared up at the stars occasionally to guess on how much time had past. She patiently awaited for morning to arrive and for the first day with the new teammates to begin.


End file.
